NORTH WILKESBORO — On a hot summer morning, Father John Hanic was hard at work in the sacristy at St. John de La Salle Church, gathering up some of the many vestments he has collected over his 39 years as a Catholic priest – some purchased, others given as gifts.
He officially had retired on July 1 after 23 years as pastor at the North Wilkesboro parish and was looking back at his years of service in the diocese and considering what he will do next.
“I’ve loved everywhere I served in the Diocese of Charlotte,” he said. “I never wanted to leave a place where I was when I got a new assignment, but then I always loved the new place once I got there. Every place I’ve been, something terrific has happened.”
This year, Father Hanic became one of several priests from around the Diocese of Charlotte who started their retirement journeys.
After their many years of service to the faithful in western North Carolina, they will now be among the clergy benefited by the annual diocesan collection for the Priests’ Retirement and Benefits Plan, set to be taken up in all parishes the weekend of Sept. 19-20.
A dream come true
Every priest who retires has his own story of the journey that led him to serving God.
Father Hanic’s is special because he thought his lifelong dream of priesthood would never come true.
An initial stint at seminary in his home state of Massachusetts didn’t work out because he had a problem learning Latin, so he left and took a different life path – marriage, working at Sears and becoming father to a son and a daughter.
After the marriage ended in divorce, he was a single parent and worked as secretary at his home parish.
Then, in the mid-1970s, he thought about becoming a deacon, but couldn’t find a diocese with a program. He visited Bishop Michael Begley in Charlotte to inquire and got an answer he never expected. The diocese had no permanent deacon program at the time, but Bishop Begley instead told him, “You’re going to study to be a priest for me.”
He was allowed to attend seminary in Massachusetts to be with his family, and then in 1983, he moved his children to North Carolina to begin his life of service in parishes.
As pastor of Our Lady of Mercy in Winston-Salem, he helped establish its RCIA program (now OCIA), an experience he loved because it helped him learn to shepherd people on their journey to the Church.
At Our Lady of Assumption Church in Charlotte, he worked on efforts to build a new church. Other assignments included St. James in Hamlet, St. Joseph of the Hills in Eden and chaplaincy at Holy Trinity Middle School.
Finally, he arrived at St. John the Baptist de La Salle in North Wilkesboro at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and its mission, St. Stephen in Elkin. There, he said, he found both a physical and spiritual home and loved watching the growth of the vibrant Hispanic community.
The campus bears many landmarks of his years there, including a building where hundreds gather for Mass in Spanish every Sunday.
Along a wooded road that leads to the house where he lives, a rustic wooden statue of St. John de La Salle, the parish’s patron saint, stands surrounded by trees. Father Hanic asked a parishioner who did woodwork to craft it from a large tree that was felled by a tornado that came through town several years ago.
Over the years, he collected many sacred objects with special meaning to him – chalices, religious artwork and the vestments he was packing on that day in July in an effort to clear space for the new parochial administrator, Father Engelbert Ofon.
The packing brought back memories of some of the priest friends he made over the years, including the late Monsignor Anthony Marcaccio, former pastor of St. Pius X in Greensboro.
“Anthony always loved the vestments I had and I loved his,” he said.
Father John Hanic, talked about sacred art that holds special meaning to him, the joy of fishing trips and reflected on his journey to the priesthood as he prepared to retire as pastor of St. John De La Salle Parish in North Wilkesboro. (Troy C. Hull | Catholic News Herald)
Fishing in the future
Retirement does not mean Father Hanic is slowing down, nor will he be confined by the borders of North Wilkesboro.
He is pursuing one of his lifelong passions – fishing. He grew up hunting and fishing with his father in Massachusetts and brought the love of the outdoors with him to North Carolina.
In a way of celebrating his retirement, he has planned two fishing trips. One, to Alaska in September, will keep up a more than 20-year tradition of traveling to the state to catch salmon.
“I love catching them – they’re the most spectacular fish!” he said. But he’s not a fan of eating salmon, so he ships back what he catches and shares it with others at the parish.
Later in the year, he hopes to take a trip to Belize to pursue his dream of catching a sailfish.
During retirement, he will continue to live in North Wilkesboro near the parish where he served the longest and serve where and when he can – celebrating Masses, visiting the sick, and sharing the love of Christ with others in the midst of the phase he calls “a new adventure.”
— Christina Lee Knauss