‘At every place I’ve gone, something terrific has happened’
NORTH WILKESBORO — The path to the priesthood was a long and winding one for Father John Hanic, who is retiring July 1 after 23 years as pastor of St. John Baptist de La Salle Parish.
It started in his birthplace of Massachusetts, led through an attempt at seminary, marriage, fatherhood, a career at Sears, Roebuck and Co., and then back to his original calling.
He had wanted to be a priest for as long as he could remember, he said, and he did go to seminary, but there was one problem.
“Back then to be in seminary you had to be proficient in Latin – you had to read it, write it, speak it, and I was very poor and inefficient in languages,” he said. “I didn’t do well.”
A year of Latin immersion didn’t help. He left the seminary, took a job with Sears, married and became father to a son and daughter. The marriage ended in divorce, and he became a single parent. He still felt called to serve the Church, so he took a job as secretary at his home parish in Massachusetts.
In the mid-1970s, he felt called to become a deacon, but struggled to find a diocese that had a program. A visit to Bishop Michael Begley in Charlotte reignited his childhood dream.
“He said ‘I don’t have a permanent diaconate program, but what you’re going to do is study to be a priest for me,’” Father Hanic recalled.
Bishop Begley sent him to seminary in Massachusetts so he could be with his family, and in 1983, he moved his children to North Carolina and began his journey of shepherding parishes.
Serving at six parishes
“At every place I’ve been, something terrific has happened,” he said of the six parishes he has served in the diocese.
While he was pastor at Our Lady of Mercy in Winston-Salem, he worked with Sister Janis McQuade of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia to establish an RCIA program (now OCIA) for those who desired to become Catholic.
“That experience really changed my vision and understanding of how people embrace the faith and become part of the Church,” he said.
At St. James in Hamlet, he helped make needed changes. When he arrived at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Charlotte, he learned of plans to build the current church on Shamrock Drive and helped bring them to fruition.
“I spent so much time there as the church was being built,” he said. “I helped lay some shingles on the roof. I laid a brick in the church. I contributed in every way I could.”
From there, he went to St. Joseph of the Hills in Eden for two years and spent seven years as chaplain at Holy Trinity Middle School.
Finally, he arrived at St. John the Baptist de La Salle in North Wilkesboro at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and its mission, St. Stephen in Elkin, where he has ministered for the past 23 years.
It was in North Wilkesboro that he overcame his inability to learn languages. The parish’s Hispanic community was booming, and Father Hanic was struggling to learn enough Spanish to celebrate Mass.
He traveled to Mexico at the invitation of a priest from the Diocese of Chiapas in Mexico. There, he was invited to celebrate Mass at a basilica near the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The only problem? All of the texts were in Spanish.
A religious sister offered to help him pronounce the words.
“A little group of people had come for the Mass, and that was the first time I ever celebrated Mass in Spanish, and when I got back here, I found that I could celebrate the Mass for the community here in Spanish,” he said.
Learning the traditions of the Hispanic community has been one of his greatest joys, he said. He added a building to better accommodate the hundreds who attend Spanish Mass on Sundays.
As retirement approaches, he said, he will miss the strong relationships he’s forged.
“There will be things to do – I can help out in different parishes, celebrate a weekend Mass – but it won’t be the same as being here with the people every day and being able to celebrate with them every weekend,” Father Hanic said.
“Celebrating the Eucharist with the people is what I love the very best. That will be the hardest thing for me to let go. This journey of the priesthood and coming to retirement is overwhelming and mysterious. How is God working in this phase? I don’t know, but it will be a new adventure.”
— Christina Lee Knauss