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Priest brings hope to at-risk teens
By Gina Keating, The Catholic Sun
April 3, 2008
QUEEN CREEK — From behind the ambo of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Fr. William Mitchell has a clear view of what it means to be an at-risk youth in Arizona.
Drugs, sex and violence are facts of life for teenagers whose lives have spiraled out of control.
But there’s hope in Fr. Mitchell, who for the past 14 years has ministered to thousands of high-school dropouts through Arizona Project Challenge.
His spiritual direction, mentorship and genuine love and concern earned him the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Guard Youth Challenge Program, based in Virginia.
“Fr. Mitchell is able to reach a sense of goodness in a young man or young woman when others can’t, or have given up trying to help them,” said Clark S. Coldiron, Arizona Project Challenge director. “The greatest quality is his untiring effort to help the lost youth of this nation.”
As chaplain, Fr. Mitchell provides spiritual guidance, celebrates Mass, prepares the teens for the sacraments and gives life and grief counseling.
It’s a role he volunteered for in 1994 — the day after he retired.
“I don’t know why, but I seem to get along with the youngsters,” Fr. Mitchell said. “They gave me work to do and I did it.”
The whole idea of being honored with a national award befuddles him — as did receiving the 2005 President’s Volunteer Service Award for his work with the same program.
“He is a willing listener with sage advice for the cadets to put them back on the right track to success,” Coldiron said, adding Fr. Mitchell works 30-plus hours each week.
Of course, Fr. Mitchell has his own theory about his success with the military-style program for 16- to 18-year-olds.
He credits his father.
Fr. Mitchell has no memories of him, just a picture. His father fought in the first Word War and died from his wounds when Fr. Mitchell was only 2.
“The reason I do so well is the fact I have it in my blood,” he said.
Although Fr. Mitchell’s desire to serve the military as a chaplain following his ordination was never fulfilled, his dream to serve was realized in 2001.
Then-Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull, by proclamation, promoted Fr. Mitchell to Honorary Colonel of the Arizona National Guard.
“I’m right where God wants me to be,” Fr. Mitchell said. “I never asked what I should do. It’s God’s will.”
And there certainly was something serendipitous about his birth April 1,1923, on Easter Sunday.
“My grandmother, who was a very holy woman, said I was going to do something for God in a special way,” Fr. Mitchell said. “How right she was.”
Born and raised in Chicago, Fr. Mitchell graduated in 1949 from Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois.
He moved to Arizona in 1960, and began his work for area Catholics.
Lifelong friend and classmate Msgr. William E. McKay, who retired in residence at All Saints Parish in Mesa, remembers Fr. Mitchell being the only seminarian with a Greek typewriter.
“He is a good friend and a wonderful priest,” Msgr. McKay said.
Fr. Mitchell has spent the better part of his lifetime as an educator, youth minister and parish priest.
He is the founding pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Mesa, but also enjoyed his work in pastoral care.
In the nearly 60 years Fr. Mitchell has served in ministry, his list of servanthood also includes being the first Catholic chaplain at Mesa Community College.
Fr. Mitchell was also the first chaplain at Arizona State University, and served as the Catholic Youth Organization director for the Phoenix area.
In spite of himself, Fr. Mitchell divides his time between Project Challenge and Canyon State Academy, where he has served as spiritual director for the past 24 years.
His charismatic personality draws you right to him. Just talking to Fr. Mitchell makes you want to be near him because he earnestly listens.
It’s no surprise these qualities help him make inroads with the young people he serves on a daily basis.
And when he leaves the campus at Project Challenge to return to his own residence, it’s hard not to hug a priest who has endeared himself with Christ’s love.
“I see them as an object of God’s tremendous love, and I tell them that,” he said. “I see God loving that child in a fantastic way.”
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