News

Call to priesthood came early for monsignor

By Tony Staley
Compass Correspondent

ALLOUEZ -- Msgr. Brian Coleman clearly remembers when he knew that he wanted to be a priest.

"I was 3 years old and was with my family in Little Flower Church in Chicago one Sunday. It's one of my first recollections of being in church. At the start of Mass I pulled on the sleeve of my father's top coat. He looked down and tried to quiet me. But I said 'I want to be one of those when I grow up' and pointed at the priest."

Nearly 67 years and 44 years of priesthood later, Msgr. Coleman retired on Oct. 25.

He has served more than 36 years with the diocesan Marriage Tribunal, the church court that rules on the validity of marriages, and for the last eight years as administrator of St. Patrick Parish, Green Bay.

At the Tribunal he has been an advocate, defender of the bond, judge, vice-officialis and officialis or judicial vicar. He also has been the vice chancellor and vicar general and a Presbyteral Council member.

From his cozy apartment in Grellinger Hall, the priests' retirement home in Allouez, Msgr. Coleman looked back on a life that includes more than 50 years as a Third Order Carmelite, which entitles him to wear the order's habit.

He was born Oct. 25, 1937, to Joseph and Margaret (Sutton) Coleman in an Irish, Catholic and Democratic parish - "they all three went together in those days" in southwest Chicago.

His father, who retired as a captain with Squad 9 on the fire department, was one of the parish's many city workers. "Squad 9 was a busy one," Msgr. Coleman said. "They would make 4,000 to 5,000 runs a year and a lot of times I rode with him."

Nevertheless, he didn't want to be a firefighter. "I had to fight other kinds of fire." He maintained ties to the fire department as a chaplain in Appleton, Green Bay and for 30 years with the state chiefs' association until demands of Tribunal work forced him to step back. A large delegation from the fire department, complete with bagpipes and uniforms, were at his last Mass at St. Patrick.

He attended Little Flower School, taught by the Irish Sisters of Mercy - "Some of them were anything but merciful, but we all made it through" - and Quigley, the Archdiocese of Chicago's high school seminary. While there he decided to study for the Diocese of Green Bay because his family vacationed in the Wautoma area and Green Bay Bishop Stanislaus Bona was from Chicago.

After completing studies at St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee, he was ordained to the priesthood on June 1, 1963, by Bishop Bona. He was given a busy three-month, vacation-season assignment at Holy Family Parish, Elcho, plus St. Mary, Pickerel, and two Boy Scout camps.

Next came two, two-year assignments. The first was as assistant pastor at St. Therese Parish, Appleton, which had 1,000 families, a 1,189-student school and two-dozen sisters. The second was as chaplain of the Marian Home and assistant at the Newman Center, both at Oshkosh.

His next assignment, as assistant pastor at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral Parish, Green Bay, changed his life. He had begun working on marriage cases and one day in 1969 Bishop Bona surprised him by asking him to study canon law in Rome. He returned two years later and became a defender of the bond for the Tribunal with residence at St. Matthew Parish, Green Bay, where he later was temporary administrator.

In 1974, he was named a judge and, in May 1981, the vice-officialis. Two months later he also became pastor at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, Tisch Mills. That October, he became the officialis. The following June it became a full-time position with no time to be a pastor, so he took up residence at St. Francis, De Pere.

On Feb. 14, 1983, he also became a judge in the Inter-Diocesan Tribunal of the Province of Milwaukee.

Msgr. Coleman said he liked the Tribunal work and staff.

"We are able to give people a second chance at full communion with the church. If we could declare a marriage null and void it gave them a chance to begin again in the church, first with the sacrament of marriage and then with the Eucharist," he said.

Decisions affect many people - the couple, the children and the family on both sides, he said.

"The most difficult thing was getting people to understand that an annulment is not a Catholic divorce. The church doesn't deny that a relationship did exist, only that it didn't have the qualities for a sacramental relationship, though there could have been a natural relationship."

Explaining it that way often helped, he said, but not always.

"I got my ears chewed off every day," he said, but he never let it bother him. "I would explain it, but often they didn't accept it because they didn't want to accept it. I would say 'God bless you. We'll pray for you.'"

Some threatened lawsuits, but legal costs and the church's First Amendment protections quickly ended such talk.

Msgr. John Schuh, pastor of St. Paul Parish, Wrightstown, and a longtime friend, said, "Msgr. Coleman is truly an expert in canon law, but the wonderful thing about it is he has a very pastoral sense. He really has helped people in the years he has been in ministry."

Margie Gantz, his secretary for 15 years, said she "always found him to be very dedicated to his work and a very compassionate person. The very nature of our work is very serious, so we had to lighten it up sometimes with a joke and he has a great sense of humor."

"He obviously has a great appetite. We always joked that he asked me if I could cook before he asked about my secretarial skills," she said. "He didn't cook, so it was my responsibility to make him a rum cake, which he and everyone else enjoyed. We still remain very good friends and I consider him a great role model for young men coming into the priesthood."

Kathy Schumacher recalled being hired as a secretary in 1982. "My parish priest had sent me in for an interview and I was quite nervous. I never had met a monsignor before and I had been a 'stay at home mom' for many years. During the interview Msgr. Coleman asked me two questions: 'Can you type?' and 'Can you bake?' I could do both, so I got the job!"

Msgr. Coleman was congenial and a delight to work with because he "made us feel like one big family," Schumacher said. "He insisted that we 'never miss taking a break' in the morning, and usually had a delicious treat to share. We had great times chatting with the staff around the break table."

Retired Marquette Bishop Mark Schmitt said he also was struck by Msgr. Coleman's good-nature personality. The two have known each other since shortly after Msgr. Coleman's ordination.

"When I became an auxiliary bishop of Green Bay in 1970 he offered to be my master of ceremonies at confirmations," Bishop Schmitt said. "The only problem was that everyone thought he was the bishop. I used to kid him about that. When I went to Marquette, he facetiously offered to continue to be my MC. But I turned him turned down because I told him that I didn't want to repeat the mistake."

Msgr. Coleman retired as Judicial Vicar on Jan. 31, 1998. A series of short assignments followed as temporary administrator of several parishes: St. John, Menasha, where for 15 years he had assisted on weekends; Sacred Heart, Appleton; St. Joseph, Sturgeon Bay; and Ss. Peter and Paul, Institute, before he became administrator of St. Patrick on Aug. 19, 1999. He resigned there on July 1 when it linked with three other west side parishes.

He fit in well and was popular at St. Patrick, said Harry Maier, a trustee.

"His homilies were exceptionally good," Maier said. "A number of people who lived outside the area of parish commented to me that they came because of the quality of the service on weekends and we had good attendance at daily Mass, too.

"People related to him well and he related to people well," Maier said. "He was visible in the parish for first Fridays and the St. Patrick's Day dinner; he was there and he mingled. People like that they can be in contact with the pastor. He developed good relationships. He has a warm personality and is easy to talk with. He listens."

Since leaving St. Patrick and moving into Grellinger Hall, Msgr. Coleman has done what he will do in retirement: assist at the Tribunal and help Fr. Jack Harper at St. Francis Xavier Parish, De Pere, and St. Mary Parish, Ledgeview.

Msgr. Coleman said he enjoys parish work, which he called a "wonderful escape" and a chance to see happily married couples and their children.

Msgr. Coleman said he loves being a priest, particularly presiding at Mass and hearing confessions.

"It's sad that more people don't go to confession," he said. "Not even the most powerful person in the world can take away sin. Only the priest can because he's standing in for Christ.

"The highlight of my day is the Mass, to bring eternity into time; for time to touch eternity. The two worlds are brought together in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It's a tremendous thing for two things so totally different. Jesus enters into time and takes time into eternity with him," Msgr. Coleman said. "That's the highlight of being a priest."