Feb 05, 2004

Holy Spirit parish welcomes Father Brendan McGuire
Energetic and innovative, McGuire brings unique perspective, background to position

By Candy Richter
Staff Writer

When the buzz about Holy Spirit’s new pastor first began to circulate through the parish, two distinct descriptions emerged as a common theme, head and shoulders above the standard discourse about experience, accomplishments and personality. The first was that he was very tall, and the second was that he owned a dog.
Bet you can guess which one caused the most excitement—especially among the parish youngsters.

True enough, Father Brendan McGuire is indeed tall—6 feet 5 inches—and does own a dog, Bubba, a coal-black Lab/Akita mix. But after just over a month in his new post as pastor of Holy Spirit Church and School, a whole new set of descriptions have surfaced. Energetic, innovative, and with a wealth of experience and positive energy that many feel makes him perfectly suited to the tasks at hand; as the spiritual leader of the congregation and to grow the education arm of the Holy Spirit community.

According to Bob Vossler, a member of the Holy Spirit parish since 1966 and a long-standing member of the parish council, even before McGuire officially took the reins of Holy Spirit’s leadership, his initial interactions with the parish council were very positive. “A pastor can decide to dissolve the council, replace the council, or to not have a parish council at all,” says Vossler. “Father Brendan has made it very clear that he wants our input and wants to work with us. He’s coming in with a great feeling of cooperation, and that’s been a positive thing for us.”

McGuire places a high priority on listening to the community and echoed Vossler’s enthusiasm for working with not only the parish council but the members as well. “Instead of dissolving the council, I asked them to be my eyes and ears, to hold ‘listening sessions’ and invite 10 people they don’t know out for coffee. I want to know, what is their vision? What are they impassioned about getting involved with? What are the areas of growth? Of success?’”
Out of this, McGuire and the council will create a path, and how they do this will be based on input.

McGuire’s background
Born in 1965 just outside the city of Dublin, Ireland, McGuire is the youngest of 12 siblings, many of whom share his spirit of adventure and have immigrated to the United States and Australia. His education includes a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering and master’s degrees in both mathematics and computer science, with an emphasis in programming. With these lofty credentials, McGuire came to the Silicon Valley in 1989 and spent the next five years working with his brother’s start-up company. He also served as executive director of PCMCIA, the nonprofit organization that set the international standards for PC cards. Although McGuire loved his career and was able to grow PCMCIA from a 30-member organization to over 7,000 members worldwide, he had always felt that the corporate world was not his true calling. “I felt the call to go into ordained ministry for years and years,” explains McGuire. “But the Catholic Church in Ireland is very different from the church here in America. I loved the Church in San Jose, and I knew that if I was ever going to be a priest, it would be here.”

The turning point in McGuire’s life came at a retreat sponsored by the South Hills Community Church, the first retreat McGuire had participated in as an adult. “I went with a friend and my brother and asked the men to pray for me, whether I should go into the priesthood or not. I got phenomenal support, by just asking the question. It was after that, when I was on a trip, in a hotel in Belgium, that it became so clear,” said McGuire. “I needed to do this, and to do it now. I went back [home] resigned and joined the seminary.”

Even though McGuire had finally made the decision to enter the seminary, it was not because he felt this was his true path, without any doubts. In fact, the exact opposite was his true. “When I went to seminary it was not to become a priest, but to prove to God that he’d chosen the wrong guy,” he laughs. In a perfect illustration that the Lord does indeed move in mysterious ways, it turned out that it was McGuire, not God, who had been mistaken all along.

“From the first day it was very traumatic,” recalls McGuire. I remember writing a 25-page paper titled ‘The Birth of the Butterfly, The Death of the Caterpillar’ about how traumatic it was to die to oneself, and in that death, the self is actually set free to fly to the world. By dying to the business world, my secular life ended, but I was myself like the butterfly, entering my new life.”

It was while attending the Franciscan School of Theology at Berkeley that McGuire felt he had finally taken a step in the right direction of his life’s path. “I realized that this was for real, this was a wonderful journey,” says McGuire. After completing one year at Berkeley and a year at Notre Dame’s Holy Cross, McGuire felt called to return to San Jose, where he spent the next four years at St. Patrick’s in Menlo Park. On May 27, 2000, McGuire attained his goal and was an ordained priest in San Jose.

McGuire then moved to St Lawrence Parish and Education Center in Santa Clara, where he was actively involved in the youth ministry and initiated the combined St. Lawrence, St. Justin and St. Clair, or LJC program. McGuire’s familiarity with technology enabled him to implement the 1:1 computer initiative at the Lawrence Academy High School, which provided each student with their own dedicated Apple I book PC. This year, the school plans to expand this program to the middle school level. “The students use the pc’s ubiquitously throughout the day,” explains McGuire. Each student has a computer for the entire school year and several of the courses, such as government and science, are taught without textbooks, completely through the Internet.”

A vision for the future
Looking a McGuire’s corporate experience, involvement in parochial education and high energy, it’s easy to see why he was chosen to complement the anticipated growth of the Holy Spirit parish and school. His vision is to provide not just a Catholic school, but a center of education for the faith. “Even for those that cannot afford [tuition] I want to try to facilitate grants. May vision is that we’ll also have more catechism [classes]. Right now, we’ve got 110 in the first communion program. We try our best to accommodate everyone.”

“I believe whole heartedly in teaching our children the faith. Sunday, during the week, it’s within the fabric of everything we do here.

“Father Brendan is a fantastic, dynamic speaker,” says parishioner Pam Baker, whose children also attend Holy Spirit School. “ I think his energy is good for Holy Spirit and the direction we are moving. He has a real ‘can do’ kind of attitude and people really connect with him. We’re all impressed with his qualifications and his background. With his positive energy and focus, I think he’s a good fit for Holy Spirit.”

Although McGuire has only been at Holy Spirit for a little over one month, his high energy and dynamic personality have made the transition to a new pastor easier for the members of church. According to Melanie Adamo, who first met McGuire when he was still in the seminary, living with his brother and sister-in-law in Los Gatos, he was a “very nice, east-to-talk-to person.” Adamo, who currently attends St. Anthony’s, plans to send her children to Holy Spirit School, and has heard McGuire’s Sunday homilies. “He is a high energy individual and an interesting speaker. Mass isn’t boring at all and it’s quite full. I think he interacts well with the children and as far as getting the school going, raining funds, he’ll be great.”