Mrs. Isabel Samuels, Mrs. Willie Evelyn Malone (St. Peter Villa)
Jenny Marshall (Willow Bend at Marion Ark Nursing Home)
Mr. Floyd Shavers (Metro Community Care Home)
Ill at Home
Mrs. Audrey Allen, Mr. Herbert Allen, Mr. Joseph Alsandor, Mrs. Annie Hines Atkins, Mrs. Essie Berry, Mrs. Monique Meacham Bethany, Mr. Gerald Bond, Mrs. Lula Crawford, Mr. Robert Crowley, Mrs. Judy Epps, Mrs. Wendy Funches, Mrs. Marshia Gilmore, Mr. Emory Gordon, Mrs. Lottie Gordon, Ms. Jacqueline Guerrero,Mr. William Harris, Mr. Darrell Hollimon, Mr. Willie Hollimon, Mrs. Helen Hoof, Mr. Robert Hooper, Dr. William Johnson, Mrs. Mary M. Jones, Mrs. Teresa Kimbrough, Mrs. Laura Kinchelow, Mrs. Mary Monroe, Mrs. Maurice McDonald, Mrs. Florine McMillan, Mrs. Bobby Redmond, Mr. Frank Reynolds, Mr. Stanley Robinson, Mrs. Allura Tate, Mrs. Forrestine Weed, Mr. Malcolm Weed, Mr. Johnnie Weaver.
Meet Our Pastor
Rev. John J. Geaney, CSP
Father John Geaney, CSP
A Priestly Profile
Father John Geaney, C.S.P., affectionately called Father G by the St. Augustine family, is a thoughtful, soft-spoken man, who's known to enjoy a good laugh and a good cry. He was appointed in 2002 by the Superiors of the Paulist Fathers and granted faculties by Bishop J. Terry Steib, Memphis Diocese.
Father G is known locally as a Pastor who preaches with passion, conducts a most beautiful and spiritual Funeral and competes fiercely. With his trusted camera and his penchant for all forms of media, he also is a dedicated photographer, who actively records parish special events for posterity. Nationally, he's known for his competence in Radio and TV Production.
He's also nationally recognized for his instruction in Homiletics, as well as for conducting Retreats and Days of Recollection for Catholic Priests, Laity and, of course, his fellow Paulists. Father G also shares his experience in working with the media, via daylong workshops on how to approach or work with the media during a crisis.
Because he's a good preacher, Father G is requested often for short-term preaching assignments--especially in the South. However, because he's a good pastor, also, he declines Missions that require a Saturday and Sunday presence; he's generally at home "tending the flock."
Of the Community
Though an Irish-American and Bostonian by birth, Father G is known to say, "At St. Augustine, we know what it's like to be Black and Catholic." Given the Paulist tradition of building Christian unity, while respecting cultural differences, it's understandable that he would not only serve the community, but "be of the community," too.
Father G says his commitment to social justice was heightened, in great part, due his tenure with Catholic Relief Services. He traveled throughout Africa and saw how poverty, devastation and foreign economies had ravaged the continent. Further, while at UCLA in the 60's, he studied the speaches of Dr. Martin Luther King and came to understand how Pastors could influence social change from the pulpit. Ironically, Father G had no idea that, later, he would be sent to Memphis--the city in which Dr. King's assasination had set the stage for international social change...
Fast-forward 44-plus years...Father G remains connected to the struggle of human rights and neighborhood development. His passion for church involvement in social change, as well as winning, has been an inspiration. St. Augustine Catholic Church has groomed three successive winners (2005-2007) of the NAACP Teenager of the Year Award. As an admirer and pastoral acquaintance of the Memphis leader, Reverend Benjamin Hooks--who was recently awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor--Father G continues to respect, and be respected by, leaders in the social justice movement.
Meet Our Priest Stop by St. Augustine and meet our Pastor, whose name is followed always by the letters, "CSP"1--Can't Stop Preaching.." Check out the Mass schedule and come, see and hear for yourself...Father G is in the house!
1The CSP designation actually stands for the Religious Order of the Congregation of St. Paul.
“One of the natural signs of a true Paulist is that he would prefer to suffer from the excesses of liberty rather than from the arbitrary actions of tyranny.”
Father Isaac Hecker, founder of the Paulist Fathers
