During the second half of his 50-year diocesan priesthood, St. Victoria in Victoria pastor Father Bob White, 76, has had only peripheral vision because of a hereditary eye condition that manifested in the 1990s and has made it difficult for him to read, manage some parish ministries and, more recently, drive.
But through the eyes, hands and feet of his staff and parishioners whose service he considers a model for lay parish involvement, Father White has been able to continue pastoring the 1,600-family parish for 28 years.
“I’ve got parishioners who drive me around,” he said. “I’ve got a staff that covers not only the ministry areas but are just very supportive of me and I do my best to show up and support everything going on.”
Because of his vision condition, Father White’s more recent priestly ministry has looked different than in earlier decades, when in addition to parish work his roles included high school chaplain, Venezuelan missionary and seminary spiritual director. But he’s still busy biking, skiing and cooking.
Father White grew up in south Minneapolis in a Catholic family that encouraged him and his five siblings to consider priestly and religious vocations. He entered the archdiocese’s high school seminary in St. Paul, Nazareth Hall, at 18. When it closed two years later, he transferred to the new St. John Vianney College Seminary at St. Thomas College (now the University of St. Thomas), also in St. Paul.
During summers, he worked in construction, roofing, breweries, lifeguarding and camp counseling, gaining “people experience” in different settings, he said.
After his second year at the major seminary, The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Father White took a year off to gain pastoral experience at a Winona diocese parish. He discovered he loved pastoral work and felt confident he could do it.
Father White was ordained in 1974 and first served as associate pastor at Our Lady of the Lake in Mound followed by St. Mark in St. Paul. He was mentored by pastors Father Paul Dudley (later bishop of Sioux Falls) and Father John Brandes.
In 1979, Father White served on an archdiocesan vocations committee and worked at Cretin High School in St. Paul. He later did spiritual direction for five years at St. John Vianney College Seminary.
In 1986, Father White volunteered to serve at the archdiocese’s Venezuelan mission, Jesucristo Resucitado, in Ciudad Guyana. During almost five years at the mission, he said he expanded his horizons, sometimes requiring “going to Plan B,” such as walking more in the neighborhood after the ministry truck was stolen.
Returning to the archdiocese, Father White served as parochial vicar at St. John Baptist in New Brighton from 1992 to 1993 and then as pastor the following two years at St. William in Fridley. With his 1996 assignment to St. Victoria, he also began a 14-year chaplaincy at Holy Family Catholic High School.
Considering his next years of priesthood, Father White said, “I just take it a year (at a) time and I’m blessed with good energy and good health. I’ll let God tap me on the shoulder when it’s time.”
