J.D. Long-García/CATHOLIC SUN

Fr. Spaulding leads a rosary for President Obama Feb. 18, 2009, the day the president visited Dobson High School.

FR. JACK SPAULDING

Care for disabled, love for Eucharist, Mary, drive priest

Fr. Jack Spaulding, pastor of St. Timothy Parish in Mesa, was just 8 years old when he knew he was meant to become a priest.

The family moved to Phoenix from Indianapolis when he was in fourth grade. With an eye on the priesthood, Fr. Spaulding planned to spend his high school years at Tucson’s Regina Cleri, a minor seminary. Each Catholic high school had its own entrance exam, including Regina Cleri.

“My mom and dad both said, ‘Aren’t you going to take the exam for Brophy or St. Mary’s?’” Fr. Spaulding recalled. He told them he only intended to try for Regina Cleri. “But what if you don’t make it?” they asked him.

“What do you mean? Of course I’ll make it,” Fr. Spaulding told his parents.

His pastor was a little doubtful.

“When I was a little baby, about 18 months old, it seems I had a little touch of polio,” Fr. Spaulding said. The illness left him with a bit of a limp and a weakened left side.

“You’re not perfect,” the pastor told the young man, “you have a limp.”

Undeterred, Fr. Spaulding finished his studies at Regina Cleri and was admitted to St. John Seminary in Camarillo, Calif. After finishing his undergraduate degree and gaining the approval of Bishop Green to begin his theology studies, the rector of the college tried to discourage him because of his limp.

“Tell me one thing my limping prevented me from doing while I was here,” Fr. Spaulding responded. “I’ve played tennis every day, played volleyball, but if you can’t show me something, I’m going down there.” And so he did.

Those struggles undoubtedly gave him a heart for people with special needs. “It helped me to be more understanding, more compassionate,” Fr. Spaulding said.

His insight into the obstacles faced by the disabled came into play later when he took a course in sign language after finding out a seminary classmate was going deaf. Six weeks after his ordination to the priesthood in 1971, Bishop McCarthy asked Fr. Spaulding to attend a conference where he would learn how to say Mass in sign language.

By 1974, he was asked to start the Office of the Disabled for the Diocese of Phoenix, a post he held for eight years. He earned a master’s degree in administration, education and supervision. At one point the USCCB even asked him to open a national office for the disabled in Washington, D.C.

Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien wanted the young priest in Phoenix, however.

“When you’re obedient, everything works out,” Fr. Spaulding said. “Obedience is the key to everything. The longer I’m a priest the more I see that.”

He’s worked in parishes all over the Phoenix Diocese in his 39 years as a priest and is well-known for his devotion to Our Lady. For four years he had his own television show on EWTN and starred in a local radio program. Since his first visit to Medjugorje in 1987, Fr. Spaulding has had a Marian prayer group at every parish where he’s served.

And although his deep devotion to Mary has played a significant role in his priesthood, what Fr. Spaulding really loves about being a priest is the Eucharist.

“It’s the reason I’m a priest,” he said with tears in his eyes. “His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity is the greatest gift we could ever have.”

What are you passionate about as a priest?

I have a great devotion to Our Lady, but one of the things that has really been driving me is the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. We started it in 1990 at St. Maria Goretti when we started the preschool. It’s the best catechetical program I’ve ever seen. The earlier we get them, the less they’ve forgotten about Jesus — they’ve just recently come from God.

Did someone invite you to consider the priesthood?

I knew I was to be a priest when I was in second grade. One afternoon, I went into cloakroom and I got my coat. I came back and sat down and I thought to myself, “I’m going to be a priest.” I went home and told Mom and she said, “How wonderful.” I told Dad and his response was the same as Mom’s. All I can think of is really the Lord did put that on my heart and that’s all I ever wanted to be.

What can families do to encourage more vocations to the priesthood?

Don’t squelch the Holy Spirit, don’t stifle the Spirit. If you see, as a mother or a father, a son or daughter who has great gifts, then I think they need to say, “Have you ever thought about being a priest?” The way I do it is, I say, “I see the gifts you have and you’d make a good priest.” Of course to be a good priest you have to also have the makings of a good dad. The kids I have said it to say, “You’re not the first to say that.”