Fr. Bob Oldershaw's Homily Honoring Fr. Jim Halstead (February 9, 2025)
Originally published on St. John XXIII Parish’s Website.
This is the transcript of the homily given by Fr. Bob Oldershaw at the Mass honoring Fr. Jim Halstead.
Click HERE to read the transcript of parishioner Sara Burson's interview with Fr. Jim.
My sisters and brothers, read Sara Burson’s wonderful interview of Fr. Jim – abridged in the bulletin insert, and complete on the website. What I share today I just call an Appreciation.
A few days ago I made my way past the stubborn wooden gate and up the challenging back stairs to Jim’s place. I came with some questions, but never asked them. You and I pretty much sat quietly – – “poor banished children of Eve”, occasionally sending up a sigh, “mourning and weeping – gementes et flentes in this valley of tears,” with a few words of Hopkins’ “Why do sinners’ ways prosper and disappointment all I endeavor get? Wert thou my enemy, O thou, my friend, how wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost defeat, thwart me? Birds build but not I build. No, but strain, Time’s eunuch and not breed one work that wakes! Mine, O Lord of Life, send my roots rain!” Well, God has!
‘The Lord of Life has sent our roots rain.” Through you, Jim Halstead! You have rained rich beams against this much thick and marsh world– from Grand Blanc to Hyde Park, Leuven, Belgium to Chicago, Illinois, CTU to DePaul, as Augustinian prior and University Professor, (indeed Chair of Religious Studies,) opener of the world of education to the young (yay!) and reader of their papers (Ugh!), and St Nicholas presider, and resident, and priest to the parish, not to mention dear friend, advisor and soul companion to me.
Like you, Jim, I sort of backed into the priesthood; but truth be told, whether priesthood or religious life, It is really God who made the choice. It’s right here, in the gospel of Luke, in Isaiah 6 and 1Corinthians 15 that we have just heard. It’s all God! God’s choice! God’s doing! God’s grace! “By God’s grace, I am what I am!”
“Whom shall I send, who will go for us. I wonder how many times you felt like young Isaiah “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean heart…BUT, but – almost in the same breath: “Here I am, Lord. Send me.” And. like Simon who had so depended on breaking, tearing, leaking nets and sinking boats, you surrendered, you left it all in Grand Blanc and continued leaving it all… “Here I am, send me. SEND ME! And, at the Lord’s command you put out to sea, not knowing how deep that water would become.
Jim, I have been blest to know you, first at St Thomas Apostle in 1970 when I was a young priest, and you were…well… even younger…an Augustinian graduate student at CTU, with an imagination that had been sparked years earlier by the grandeur of the stars in Michigan’s pitch black sky – those “firefolk sitting in the air,” and wonderment of the playful, ever exploring child in you reflecting more deeply about the consciousness of a fish, that first intrigued you in northern Michigan, and now pondering much, much more.
Sixteen years later, I welcomed you - a newly minted doctor of theology and PhD in Religious Studies to be presider and, for a blessed time a resident at St. Nicks, when I got to know your mom, and your sisters Jackie and Jannie . We may not have realized then what an organic part of this community you would become, though you had done parish ministry in in Chicago, Detroit and Belgium even as you probed the mysteries of moral theology and sought to resolve the conflict between science and religion. As you said, you found the perfect combination: professor during the week and pastor on the weekends
The rest -they say - is history, a history well known and deeply treasured by our St Nicholas community. See it in the words of gratitude; feel it in the tears and running laughter of the community.
You have presided at our liturgy, baptized our children, anointed our families, buried those we have loved and lost; you have reconciled us, married us; you have visited the sick wherever and however they were. You have enriched our eucharist, have helped us to appreciate the role of the assembly, opened our minds and hearts with your preaching that you may have found “terrifying” but we have found enriching. Ever the professor, you have stretched us, you’ve made us think, opened us to wonder even when the numbers of your subordinate clauses between subject and predicate have challenged our limits.
Most of all, you have loved us! You have always found time to drop in to our lives, no matter how diverse the location and crowded your schedule. You rarely stayed long, but you showed up…you always had 100 places to go—combined, I think, with Augustinian “restlessness”
You are “Christ in 10,000 places, lovely in limbs, lovely in eyes not his!
Nor have you been hesitant to “put out into the deep! Ask David Bradford. David called me, wrote me to say: “Four and a half years ago Fr James gave to my wife, Remy, the most precious of gifts, the gift of life. He donated his kidney so that she could live a normal life. Remy had been on dialysis for seven and a half years, waiting to hear from the national organ program. David said: “Although I was raised a Catholic, I’ve been a practicing Buddhist for over 50 years. I would accompany Remy and our daughter to Mass occasionally, and was moved by Fr James’ preaching, especially a homily on the world’s’ religions. While Biking the Ridge, praying and worrying about Remy, I found myself in front of the church. I walked into the confessional to ask Fr James if he had any suggestions or advice on enhancing Remy’s chances of getting a kidney. Without hesitating, he said “What about me, Dave…could I be a donor?”
I was dumbstruck. I said “Father James, I came here for advice and not to solicit a kidney.”
Thus began a lengthy and rigorous process of screening, interrupted by a pandemic. At one point, James, you told me they drew 21 vials of blood, and then because of human error had to repeat it!. In all of this – from the preparation to arduous recovery, you never wavered in your determination to donate your kidney. Here I am Lord, Send me!
“Here I am, Lord, send me! Here I am, And you have gone into a world at once charged with God’s grandeur and so badly bent. You continue to witness to the ‘dearest freshness deep down things, as you cheer for us and challenge us to strive for justice, work for peace, care for those at the peripheries – the least, the lonely and the lost.
Let’s return to your apartment. The gate’s still stubborn, the stairs challenging. . You hand me a newspaper, the Daily Southtown (April 5, 2005) JPII has died–there an open letter from you to the college of cardinals. You describe your hopes for a new Pope: spiritual depth, deep faith, hope and love of God and all people; one who can inspire people to talk to each other as members of the church and citizens of the world… who takes keen interest in youth, challenges and celebrates their lives…who speaks for human dignity, cares for the sick, dying and the dead… who can say a word of encouragement, challenge and wisdom to artists, businessmen, thinkers and politicians, the shapers of social life, one who wants and likes his job,
You may have been writing about a pope, but you were describing YOU, holy Father – You, Jim Halstead!
Beloved! Beloved! Beloved!
-Fr. Bob Oldershaw
