Parish rectory becomes family-friendly as deacon and family move in

CORNING, N.Y. (CNS) - It's a safe bet that in the long history of the rectory at St. Mary Church in Corning, no previous occupants felt compelled to install a swing set.

A large set now occupies the front lawn. Visitors should expect to be greeted at the front door by at least a couple of inquisitive youngsters. Toys, games and children's books fill several of the stately building's rooms. The rectory became kid-friendly over the summer when Deacon Dean Condon, 44, took over as pastoral administrator for All Saints Parish. He arrived in town with a sizable entourage: wife Janet, 42, and their six children: Joshua, 14; David, 13; Paul, 10; Timothy, 7; Rachel, 5; and Daniel, 10 months. All Saints consists of three worship sites: St. Mary, St. Vincent de Paul and Immaculate Heart of Mary. The parish offices are housed at St. Vincent. The two priests serving All Saints, Fathers Phil Billotte and Mark Miller, were living at St. Mary, but they were sympathetic to the family's need for a home to accommodate them all. So they agreed to relocate to Immaculate Heart of Mary. In July the Condons moved into the rectory at St. Mary. Deacon Condon, who spent 11 years as pastoral administrator at Guardian Angels Parish in Henrietta, acknowledged that some parishioners have been slow to accept the idea of anybody other than priests occupying that space. Yet he said overall sentiment has been very positive, as evidenced by the 30 to 40 people who helped the family move in. "People have been really nice to us here," Janet Condon said. She and her husband added that church members have expressed how they enjoy passing the rectory at night and seeing lights on in so many rooms. "A lot of people say, 'You bring life to it, literally,'" Deacon Condon told the Catholic Courier, newspaper of the Rochester Diocese. The rectory measures 10,000 square feet, about twice the size of the Condons' previous residence on the Guardian Angels campus. That's a major factor because the family grew from two to six children during Deacon Condon's tenure there. He was one of the first pastoral administrators in the Rochester Diocese, having begun at Guardian Angels in suburban Rochester in 1995. He was ordained to the diaconate in 2001. At All Saints, Deacon Condon replaces Sister Joan Cawley, a Sister of St. Joseph who was the first nonpriest administrator in parish history when she was name to the post in 2000. Despite now having to keep track of three churches rather than one, Deacon Condon said the rectory setting allows him to be home regularly for family dinners as well as for occasional lunches. Janet is able to continue as home-schooling instructor for the children. The Condons said they hope to become more active in the parish community; at Guardian Angels they were highly involved in music ministry. But for the time being, the challenge of settling into their new home still takes precedence, including childproofing it, especially with some valuable items belonging to the parish. "We took a lot of breakables and put them up in the attic," Deacon Condon said with a laugh. Deacon Condon and his wife said their kids have adjusted fairly well to the move, though Janet Condon said Joshua, the oldest, has been a bit slow to come around: "He's not big on change in general." Joshua and Rachel get a kick out of the long, dingy basement that runs under the church and is filled with folding tables, chairs, paint cans, rocks and other miscellany. "We turn off all the lights and play 'Ghost in the Graveyard,'" Joshua said. With 14 to 17 rooms - Deacon Condon and his wife still aren't sure of the exact count - the rectory as a whole is an explorer's paradise for the kids. "They play hide and seek - and really hide," said Deacon Condon.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops