June 2 | 2024 VOL 33 NO 10
IN THIS ISSUE VOCATION TO SPURT A15 ALOVE A6 GROWTH St. Patrick donations are making expansion plans possible
KDCCW retreat is a testament to vocation
THE GAP B1 BRIDGING Bridge Ministry getting a boost from Catholic Charities, Quinoneses
Catholic commentary ....................... A3 Parish news ....................................... B4 Diocesan calendar ............................ B5 Columns ..........................................B8-9 Catholic schools ............................. B11 La Cosecha ............................Section C
St. Joseph Parish marks 75th anniversary Norris community’s celebration is a blast from the past for members Reunion of faith
By Dan McWilliams
DAN MCWILLIAMS
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hen Nashville Bishop William L. Adrian named the parish in Norris after St. Joseph, he honored not only the carpenter and earthly father of Jesus but also the building spirit of early members of the community, who used their own skills to transform a burned-out house into a worship space dedicated in 1949. Seventy-five years later, the parish still has a let’s-do-itourselves mentality. St. Joseph celebrated its 75th anniversary on April 28 with a meal and a gathering under a tent that featured presentations on each decade of parish history. Some 135 current and former parishioners came to the celebration at St. Joseph Church, located high on a hill above Andersonville Highway on the outskirts of Norris, its home since 1992. Father Dennis Kress, assigned last year as pastor of St. Joseph as well as St. Therese in Clinton, al-
Eras illustrated Sally Jackson, the "senior" member of St. Joseph Parish in Norris, shows off her poodle skirt as she gives a reflection on St. Joseph during the 1950s as part of the parish's 75th-anniversary celebration on April 28. ready knows what makes the Norris parish special. “It’s just a parish that has been incredibly vibrant and active,” he said. “There are just so many things happening here. It’s been amazing to watch it all take place.
They did all of this,” he added with a laugh, looking around the outdoor tent and the anniversary festivities taking place. “They absolutely did it all. It was all on a volunteer basis. They took it upon themselves.”
Priest assignments made Archbishop Fabre announces changes for several parishes
St. Joseph continued on page A12
Plans for the ordination and installation of Bishop-elect Beckman are being finalized The East Tennessee Catholic
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The East Tennessee Catholic
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wenty-two priests in the Diocese of Knoxville are transitioning into new roles as Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre, apostolic administrator of the diocese, announced a series of assignments that will impact more than a dozen parishes. Archbishop Fabre announced the assignments publicly on April 15 soon after the priests who are assuming new roles informed their current parishioners. Father Chris Michelson, a longtime diocesan priest who has served at a number of parishes in the dioceses of Knoxville and Nashville over a 44-year priesthood, will retire from active ministry, effective July 1. He will continue to serve as president of St. Joseph School in Knoxville and as adviser to the president of Knoxville Catholic High School. Father Michelson is the founding pastor of St. Albert the Great Parish in Knoxville, which was established on July 1, 2007. The parish’s first Masses were held on that date in the Sister Elizabeth Assembly Center at St. Mary’s North hospital, which is now Tennova North. Ground was broken for the parish on Nov. 15, 2008, and the then-new St. Albert the Great Church in the Halls community was dedicated on Aug. 29, 2009. Father Michelson also was the founding pastor of All Saints Parish in Knoxville when it was established in 1994 and dedicated in January 1999. And he was instrumental in
Former St. Joseph pastors Father Mike Creson and Father Julius Abuh returned for the 75thanniversary celebration, as did Father Jim Haley, CSP, who was assigned briefly to St. Joseph last year before Father Kress arrived. Father Mark Schuster, pastor of St. Alphonsus in Crossville and special delegate for the Cumberland Mountain Deanery, read a letter at the dinner from Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre, apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Knoxville, congratulating the parish on the occasion. The late beloved former pastor Monsignor Bill Gahagan, who served three assignments at St. Joseph, was well-remembered at the celebration, as were Father Dan Richardson, the pastor of the Harriman Missions that included Norris when the 1949 building was dedicated, and Father William Nolan, the first resident priest assigned to St. Joseph when it became part of the Norris-LaFollette
Fr. Michelson
Fr. Floersh
leading development of Knoxville Catholic High School at its current location in the Cedar Bluff community adjacent to All Saints Church. The school relocated to its present campus from the original site on Magnolia Avenue in January 2000. Father Michelson was ordained to the priesthood on May 30, 1980, at St. Mary Church in Oak Ridge, where he was baptized and confirmed as a youth. The Oak Ridge native attended St. Mary School. He attended St. Meinrad College and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West in Cincinnati. He has served as pastor of All Saints Parish, dean of the Cumberland Mountain Deanery, chairman of the Diocese of Knoxville Presbyteral Council, episcopal vicar in the diocese, pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Lenoir City, and parochial administrator of St. Alphonsus Parish in Crossville. In the 1980s, he served as associate pastor of Christ the King Parish in Nashville, associate pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Madison, Tenn., a coordinator for youth ministry and an associate director of vocations for the Nashville Diocese, associate pastor of St. Henry
Fr. McNeeley
Fr. Orr
Parish in Nashville, teacher at Father Ryan High School in Nashville, and director of Camp Marymount, also in the Diocese of Nashville. Father Christopher Floersh will serve as parochial administrator of St. Albert the Great Parish in Knoxville, effective July 1. Father Floersh has been serving as diocesan director of vocations since 2020, as chaplain at Knoxville Catholic High School, and as parttime associate pastor of St. John Neumann Parish in Farragut. Following his 2017 ordination to the priesthood, Father Floersh was assigned as chaplain at Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga and part-time parochial vicar at St. Stephen Parish in Chattanooga. Father Albert Sescon is retiring from active ministry, effective July 20. Father Sescon has been serving as chaplain of Ascension Living Alexian Village in Signal Mountain since September 2021. He was appointed pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in LaFollette, St. Jude Parish in Helenwood, and Christ Assignments continued on page A19
ishop-elect Mark Beckman’s ordination and installation is officially on the calendar, and plans are being finalized as the Diocese of Knoxville sets in place the date, time, location, and other details of the upcoming historic Mass. Bishop-elect Beckman will be ordained a bishop on Friday, July 26, at 2 p.m. at the Knoxville Convention Center. And as part of the Mass celebration, he will be installed as the fourth shepherd of the Diocese of Knoxville. Formal invitations, instructions for clergy, and information about how the faithful can attend the Mass will be announced soon. Details will be available in the July issue of The East Tennessee Catholic and on dioknox.org. The convention center was selected as the site of the celebration because of its size and extra space for ancillary activities. In addition to diocesan faithful, clergy, religious, and those in lay ministry from Tennessee and around the country, those expected to attend the Mass are family and friends of Bishop-elect Beckman, who has served as a priest in the Diocese of Nashville since his July 13, 1990, priestly ordination. ■