By Colette M. Jenkins
Beacon Journal religion writer
POSTED: 12:00 p.m. EDT, Jul 01, 2010
The Rev. Daniel J. Reed is committed to meeting people where they are and helping them strengthen their relationship with Christ.
''His style of leadership is one of accompanying people on their faith journey,'' said the Rev. Stephen Moran, pastor at Wooster's St. Mary parish, where Reed served as a pastoral associate for five years. ''Father Dan doesn't present himself as the source of all the knowledge. He understands that we all follow one leader and that leader is in the person of Jesus Christ.''
On Sunday, Reed will officially become the pastor of the newly merged St. Bernard-St. Mary parish in downtown Akron. The new parish, forming as the result of the reconfiguration plan in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, will celebrate its opening Mass at noon with Cleveland Bishop Richard G. Lennon.
Reed, 59, was ordained in 1984 in Chicago, where he attended seminary and earned a graduate degree in divinity at the Catholic Theological Union, the largest Roman Catholic graduate school of theology and ministry in the United States. The Cleveland native started his journey into the priesthood after graduating from John Marshall High School and becoming a member of the Franciscan order.
''The parish I grew up in (Our Lady of Angels in the West Park area of Cleveland) was run by Franciscans. I didn't know there was anything else,'' Reed said. ''They were very influential in my life. They fostered me for many years in the service of the church.''
As a lay brother with the Franciscan order, Reed was primarily a tradesman, working in maintenance in various Catholic institutions in the Chicago area, including parishes, the seminary and Quincy University in Quincy, Ill., where he earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy. His work as a lay brother in the order also included serving an American Indian population at a parish and school on a reservation in Wisconsin.
After his ordination as a priest, he served as director of campus ministry at Quincy University and spent a number of years at St. Peter's in the Loop in downtown Chicago.
''The church had not one single parishioner but we had 13 daily Masses, 33 Masses on a Holy Day, confessions all day, a religious education program during the lunch hour and 24-hour counseling,'' Reed said. ''It was a unique experience because you could walk out of the church and see Mayor (Richard M.) Daley, the homeless, people from the business world and the average Joe and Mary — Catholic and non-Catholic. People would just stop by the church and pray because the church was a refuge of quiet where people could come and reflect.''
He also spent time serving as director of a Franciscan outreach program that he started in Chicago. The program provided a meal, laundry and shower facilities and clothing to the homeless and people on fixed incomes, including senior citizens who often found themselves having to choose between buying medication or food. The program was one of three sites of the Franciscan Outreach Association. The other two were a halfway house for people with addictions and transitioning from jail, and an overnight shelter.
It was during his work with the outreach association that Reed discovered the need for someone to speak Spanish to communicate with the growing number of Latinos being served. In an effort to increase his knowledge of the language, Reed volunteered to spend four months in Mexico.
''When I returned to the directorship in Chicago I was versed enough to say Mass and converse with people,'' Reed said. ''My limited ability to speak Spanish changed my life because not long after returning to Chicago, I went to San Antonio to continue working on the language and while assigned there, I helped with Mass at some of the old missions built in the 1700s.''
While in San Antonio, he also earned a graduate degree in social work from Our Lady of the Lake University. After about five years in Texas, Reed had a yearning to return home to the Cleveland area. His first assignment in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland was as a pastoral associate at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Wooster, where he served until going to Parma a year ago.
In Wooster, Reed's responsibilities included adult faith formation programming. While serving on the committee to explore ways to help adults enrich their spiritual lives, Phillip Teague, a former parishioner at St. Mary's of the Immaculate Conception, got acquainted with Reed. Over the years, the relationship between the two men blossomed into friendship.
''He is one of the most unselfish people I know. In all that he does, he looks to the common good,'' said Teague, of Loudonville. ''He is an extremely kind man, filled with compassion. Father Dan is someone who will actually take the time to listen and comes to the table with an open mind. I can truly say he was a blessing at St. Mary's and he has been a blessing in my life. I think the people at St. Bernard-St. Mary will also see him as a blessing.''
The Rev. Michael Lanning, pastor at St. Angela Merici in Fairview Park, agrees that Reed will be a ''great gift to St. Bernard-St. Mary.'' Lanning grew up with Reed in the Kamm's Corners area of Cleveland and Our Lady of Angels parish. The two also lived and worked together in Illinois.
''Father Dan is very pastoral. He's deeply concerned about people's lives and he's deeply committed to helping people grow and thrive,'' said Lanning. ''He's just a wonderful man. He has a great respect for tradition but he's not afraid of moving forward and finding new ways to do ministry. He's a very good preacher and he's a good singer. He will embrace the people in Akron and I think they will embrace him.''
Reed said he expects to draw on his experiences for ideas and inspiration as leader of the new downtown parish, which has the challenge of incorporating traditional, contemporary and Latino worship styles. The new parish will also need to explore ways to continue and strengthen outreach ministries to families via its school, to the homeless and needy, to the Latino community and to college students at the University of Akron.
The new parish inherits all of the assets and liabilities of the two former parishes. It will explore how to best support the elementary school at the former St. Mary's site while worshipping at St. Bernard's church, and what to do with the St. Mary's church building.
''As I come to downtown Akron, I think of all the possibilities for ministry and I am encouraged. We're at the foundation of a new entity,'' Reed said. ''I'm coming as the first pastor of a new parish and my goal is to help people move forward in their relationship to Jesus Christ and, in the meantime, try to keep the lights on.''
Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.
