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Priest
Biography
Fr. Joseph A. DiMauro, OSFS
Ordination: June 9, 1973
Order: Oblates
of St. Francis de Sales
Section / Area: 3 / Northeast
PA
WWME Weekend: Dec 5-7, 1986
Call to priesthood:
Many priests influenced me to enter the priesthood. The most influential
was a missionary priest of the Oblates
of St. Francis de Sales. He taught me freshman Civics in high
school and left for the Brazilian missions the next year. He returned
when I was 19 and visited me to ask me why I had not yet entered
the priesthood. I thought hard about it and nine months later, in
June 1966, I entered. The Oblates themselves at Salesianum
School in Wilmington DE all influenced me by their community
spirit and their teaching talents. Others, friends and family, gave
me the impression that I would be a good priest through their comments.
Seminaries:
DeSales Hall, Hyattsville MD
Assignments:
Presently, I am an assistant professor of education at De
Sales University, Center Valley, PA, and Diocese
of Allentown. I taught high school science, math, and theology
for 20 years at five different Catholic high schools. I was principal
of two diocesan high schools. I taught theology at three colleges.
I was vocation director for the Oblates
of St. Francis de Sales and rector of the college seminary on
the campus of De Sales University. I taught education courses at
Temple University
before accepting my present position at De Sales.
Hobbies & Interests:
I try to play golf and presently am a failure at it. I ski better
and love it. I do an occasional parish mission and give talks to
Catholic teachers. I give married couples, married men, and married
women retreats, too.
Highs and Lows of Ministry:
I loved being a high school principal almost as much as teaching.
Being a catalyst, I enjoyed the adventure of not knowing exactly
what was going to happen each day either in the office or in the
classroom. I loved creating and implementing innovative educational
practices, dealing with the different groups of people, especially
faculty and students, but I also enjoyed the parents most of the
time. I really disliked being rector of the college seminary, a
fate worse than death. Dealing with confused young adults was almost
as bad as dealing with immature parents. My ministry in WWME has
been for the most part exciting, especially presenting original
weekends, deeper weekends, and enrichments. I pour my heart, mind,
and soul into my talks and work at updating and revising them when
needed. I have learned much about myself as person, priest, and
leader through the writing and presentation of my talks and through
listening intently to the presentations of the great couples I have
been blessed to serve with in encounter. Leadership in WWME has
had its ups and downs, but I continue to answer the call to leadership.
My service to the section and the areas has been a blessing, especially
my ecclesial relationships with the capable and dedicated couples
in leadership
What inspires you? What lowers your self-esteem?
Seeing couples and priests on fire with the values of WWME…I
can usually see it in their eyes…that inspires me. Also hearing
wonderful presentations on the Weekends. Boy, have I had the blessing
of listening to some wonderful presentation by husbands and wives
in love!!! Watching people take action and being proactive in the
movement turns me on. Creating projects that help other people,
especially the downtrodden. Challenging people to make changes for
the sake of relevance. When I see people try to stop progress or
limit a person’s activity for the sake of some outdated tradition
or some ineffective practice, I lose some esteem. I hate it when
people do not want to change things when it is obvious that change
is needed. I really hate it when people try to avoid misadventures
and try to control things.
How has WWME helped or supported you in your ministry/Priesthood?
I was 13 years a priest almost burnt out from youth ministry and
seminary work. I was the rector of a college seminary and we were
having a difficult time with young men in the 80’s who were
struggling with sexuality, drugs, dysfunctional families, and a
host of other problems. I had taught high school for nine of those
years and was teaching college theology and still somewhat involved
in youth ministry. My weekend taught me much about the need for
priests to have solid, healthy, adult relationships, especially
with married couples dedicated to their vows and to building the
Church through their sacrament and their relationship with one another.
I realized that I was more than a function or an employee of the
Church. I was part of a family and had many relatives that were
waiting for me to respond to their call to love and be loved. Presently,
my sharing group and area have played major roles in supporting
me in the priesthood/ministry.
Your suggestions for promoting WWME:
I have always made it known to everyone I meet that I am a priest
who presents Marriage Encounter Weekends because I see the need
for a renewal in the Catholic Church and that that renewal can come
effectively through couples and priests who are alive in their sacraments
and giving of themselves for the sake of the Church. I literally
ask a couple how they are getting along with one another. They always
give me some surface answer like “we are fine.” Then
I dig deeper and ask them about things they become shocked over,
like their sex life and their decision-making behavior, their married
singles lifestyle, and the way they use the children to avoid relating
with each other. We get into some deep stuff and sometimes I perceive
that they wished I had never visited them. I start with my relatives
and go to friends and even strangers sometimes. I tell them that
my Weekend saved my priesthood (and it did!!!) and that we need
strong marriages in order to save our families, communities, parishes
and nation. We are in the process of taking over leadership in my
area and we are already forming new communities. That is the backbone
of WWME, community. We have made a commitment to have community
enrichments every year, at least once a year. We are concentrating
on community because we believe that once we get communities on
fire the rest will fall into place.
Your Hopes and Dreams for WWME:
Well, I certainly hope more couples attend the original Weekends.
Marriage and priesthood are at risk and we need to invite more couples
and priest over and over again (the seven-time theory) until they
say “yes” to making a Weekend if we are to renew the
Catholic Church. I hope we retain strongly our Catholic identity.
No matter what anyone says, we have all the gifts that Jesus Christ
left us. Other faiths do not have all the riches we have and that
means we have to take responsibility for those gifts. You know,
we are the man with 10 talents as opposed to the man who had only
one. It would be a shame to find out that we buried nine and joined
the man with only one. I hope and dream that we inspire couples
and priests to forget themselves and to reach beyond themselves
to serve the Church, to dream the impossible dream, to give themselves
for the quest and not just have a “nice Weekend” or
be turned in on themselves. We need to continually challenge couples
and priests to “teach all nations,” baptizing them in
the name of Jesus with a baptism of example and of commitment. We
need to create and sustain communities. We are lax in this area.
We need to have special couples to make sure this happens in each
area. I could go on and on but I will stop right here. There are
so many things we need to revitalize and to do.
Click
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We at eMatrimony
have asked all the WWME presenting priests to share their stories
so we might honor them for their “yes” to God, the church,
and to WWME. We also hope that through reading the stories in this
ongoing series, you will be inspired to promote and encourage priest
vocations.
A big thank you goes to the priests who are sharing their stories
with us. This is a developing series, so Father, if you have not
yet shared your story with us, we are anxious to hear from you.
Click here for more information
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