Reflecting on One Year in Port Chester

By Fr. Eddie Chincha, SDB, CYM, St. John Bosco Parish, Port Chester, NY

Dear friends,

As the new school year began, I had the grace to complete my first year in my new assignment here at St. John Bosco Parish in Port Chester. This was the same place where I grew up and was nourished in my Salesian vocation.

I had many blessings along the way this year. These included how I was warmly welcomed by my home parish, how I was able to bond with my wonderful brothers in community, and how I was able to succeed in my apostolic work among the young people of the parish, with whom I was able to directly relate since it was my home parish.

There were many great moments this year. One of them was celebrating weddings, especially the one that involved the younger brother of a high school friend of mine, who passed away a few years ago. I also reconnected with past pupils whom I taught at Salesian High School in New Rochelle and organized a service project for some Tampa alumni. I was happiest with being able to help our ministries in Port Chester grow, although most of the credit should really go to our extremely committed parishioners and lay leaders.

Finally, I was able to experience a different side of ministry, that of being a parish priest instead of being a priest working in a school. It was quite a change to go from living and working within a very structured schedule to one that was unstructured; within the daily schedule of the latter anything could happen, such as emergency anointings, funerals, and people dropping by the rectory to speak to a priest. Also, I struggled as to how I would be able to effectively minister to young people without encountering them on a daily basis, as I would in a school setting. Here is where the words of the late Pope Francis were very helpful to me: "Just be their priest." God took care of the rest. I found it liberating to not be a part of the school administration any longer. In parish ministry I have been able to do more of what I always wanted to do—to be available to spiritually accompany young people by just being "their" Salesian priest.