Faith Walked With Father Pickett Through Good and Bad
By Father Robert Thomas Pickett
For the Sooner Catholic

Mix a bit of salt sea air with wind sweeping right behind the rain. Both are part of my being. Since both are creations of God, I also believe my calling to be and remain a priest is
the work of God. It seems I always had the desire to be a priest, as far back as I can remember. The atmosphere in
my family was one that encouraged vocations. As a kid I would read stories in Maryknoll Magazine. Sort of an inducement to consider a religious vocation.

Raised in a family with five children, I was a middle child. However being a twin, I did not have to hold that dubious spot alone. I was born in Milton, Massachusetts on January 23, 1924. Shortly after coming into this world my parents, John and Louise (Callahan) Pickett moved the family to Newton, Mass. Banker Dad had converted from the Methodist-Episcopal Church before he married.
Mom was a strong Irish Catholic very committed to her faith.
Ours was a very loving and, I feel, ideal family.

The biggest event of my childhood was the disaster of the depression. We had lived a life of luxury. Our homes were in neighborhoods shared by Boston bluebloods.

We summered in our beach home. After the crash Father lost his job, we went through all our savings, and lost all our homes. Eventually even the furniture was repossessed.

My two oldest sisters, Weezie and Jean, were taken out of Catholic school. My folks could not afford it. When my twin and I reached school age we attended public schools.

One Saturday two of us had the job of standing in a line to get a bag of flour. The government was handing out commodities to the poor. There were so many in line. It seemed to take all day to finally get our flour. Hauling it home the bag got heavier and heavier. The fact our pride was bruised was likely the real reason... not the weight of the bag... but my sister and I tossed that bag over a bridge. We told Mother they had run out.

By 1941 my father was working for the government as an accountant and when World War II broke out he was transferred to the Oklahoma Ordnance Works at Pryor.

Later that year the rest of the family moved to Oklahoma to join him and I also got a job at the Ordnance works. When I learned that there was a $100 bonus for enlisting in the army rather than waiting to be drafted, I chose to enlist. That meant not finishing high school, but we needed the money and the draft was going to happen anyway. After training on the West Coast the U.S. Army shipped my unit to the Pacific Theatre. We did some island hopping in New Caledonia, Guadalcanal. Bougainville, and Green Island. I was in Leyte, the Philippines, preparing to invade Japan when the atomic bombs were dropped and the war ended. For me the war felt like a crusade. We were actually battling evil. It is much the same feeling I get from my vocation.

As horrendous and spectacular the depression and war were... the greatest influence in my life was actually my twin sister Natalie. While my crusader zeal and attraction to the priesthood continued throughout my military service, when I came out I had doubts about my worthiness and ability to become a priest. Unbeknownst to me, Natalie went behind my back and talked to Father (later Bishop) John Sullivan. It was Father Sullivan who invited me to go to the seminary. First I was sent for a year to our diocesan seminary at Bethany. There were a lot of ex-GI’s like me. Yet I wondered if I could handle the academics. At that point Natalie, who had a very forceful temperment, read me the riot act. In other words she gave me the encouragement I needed to continue.

About Natalie. She was an accomplished athlete. She excelled in baseball, basketball, swimming and golf. When we were kids at our summer home she would play catch with visiting members of the Boston Braves. I had a hard time throwing the ball straight. She ended up being a colonel in the Air Force, one of the earliest women to achieve that rank.

So with Natalie’s prodding I stayed in the seminary and was sent for six years of study at Saint John’s Home Mission Seminary in Little Rock, Arkansas. Ordination was May 21, 1955 at Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I never really looked back.

It seems all my doubts were resolved during my time in seminary. In any event, years later-in the 1960s and 1970s-when others were leaving the priesthood, the thought of me leaving never entered my mind. I have always been happy to be a priest.

The first three years were spent at Saint Mary’s Church in Ponca City. Then finally my first assignment as pastor was in Geary with a mission church in nearby Watonga. The day I moved to Geary, with all my worldly possessions in a 1948 Dodge, was one of the hottest June days on record. Upon arrival hope faded and excitement began to wane. My plans for pastoral programs for the parish were dashed. The rectory looked like it was built shortly after the “Oklahoma Land Run.” It was infested with mice. The bed was filled with fleas, and the bath tub backed up after my first bath. To top it all off I used a broom handle to fend off a snake crawling on a ledge above my window... inside the house.

The next morning I went to the Chancery office in Oklahoma City. Maybe a plea to the Bishop would win some financial help to fix things. After a gracious greeting and conversation with the bishop, I was told, “Bob, you know we must make sacrifices.” Needless to say, I left the bishop’s “palace” somewhat disappointed.

My best experience in ministry was my 11 years as pastor of Resurrection Parish in Tulsa. I followed Father Bill Skeehan who had done an excellent job of forming a very up-to-date faith community, especially regarding social matters and the liturgy. Our parish did a great deal to help the poor in close association with Neighbor for Neighbor. As for the liturgy, we had no kneelers, general absolution, and extremely creative Holy Week celebrations. We tried hard to avoid compartmentalizing the secular and religious parts of our lives. For instance, we worshipped in a multi-purpose facility that enabled us to use the space for other things, both secular and religious. Parishioners met in small groups, little parishes within the parish, which gave them a greater sense of belonging.

The little parish meetings helped cement relationships and sensitize the participants to social issues, which led them to see the need for political and social activism. When I retired in 1998, it was from Resurrection Parish.

Though retired, I still cover Masses on request. I like to play golf and hike in the mountains. At home I work in my garden and do crossword puzzles and crypto-quotes to keep my mind active. You know, when you reach a certain age-I’m 80-camaraderie becomes harder and you sort of get out of the loop. Many of my friends are dead and the fact of living alone leads to less interaction with fellow priests. The result is that I have less common ground with fellow priests than when I was pastor and went to all sorts of clergy meetings.

Next year I celebrate my 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. My greatest hope for the next 50 years is that the Church continues to progress and accommodate itself to the times and the needs of the people like it did in the decades following Vatican II. This is especially true regarding the gifts and talents of women, their role in the life of the Church. We also need to get away from a guilt-ridden mentality. The Liturgy itself forgives sins and should be a forgiving experience for the worshippers. The sins that we should focus on are not all the petty “don’ts” that were so emphasized in the past but rather the true evils that are so easily ignored. Evils like racism, gay-bashing, abuse of the environment, armaments and killing in war. You know, we have four branches of the military but not a single institution dedicated to finding ways to resolve conflicts peacefully. Yet isn’t that what Jesus came to bring us? Isn’t that what he tells us to work for? “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

I hope that my 50 years of ministry have served to further Jesus’ work of peace and justice in our broken world.