St. Agnes celebrates 50 years of Father Turek’s ministry
Clergy and guests from across the eight-county Diocese of Cleveland gathered recently at St. Basil the Great Church in Brecksville for the annual jubilee Mass celebrating the 60th, 50th, 40th and 25th anniversaries of ordinations for diocesan priests. Among those honored was Father Ronald Turek of Orrville’s St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church.
On June 22 Rev. Ronald J. Turek, the current parish administrator at St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church in Orrville, celebrated a significant milestone in his ministry with a special jubilee Mass.
In Turek’s case, this event was actually a “double jubilee” as he also celebrated 50 years of serving various faith communities within the Diocese of Cleveland as a priest. After attending seminary in the diocese, Turek was ordained a priest in 1974. He has had several assignments within the Diocese of Cleveland before being assigned as administrator to the St. Agnes Church in Orrville.
Turek grew up in the Cleveland area and often sprinkles his homilies with references to Cleveland sports and baseball in particular, with a special fondness for his hometown team, the Cleveland Indians, now known as the Cleveland Guardians. In honor of that love of the sport, the church had a special reception for Turek that celebrated his love of all things baseball including baseball-themed cookies, Cracker Jack snacks, peanuts in the shell and hot dogs.
Last year Turek oversaw the renovation of the altar area of the church. This project had long been on the church’s wish list but was finally brought to fruition early last spring. The project included removing carpet and some steps from the altar area and replacing the carpet with marble, redoing the altar area with coordinating tiles, and relocating the tabernacle from the side of the altar to the back and center of the church. The project was completed in time for the 2023 Easter season.
A jubilee Mass for a priest is a special celebration of the priest’s ordination anniversary and typically recognizes priests who have been ordained for 25 years of service or more. The special Mass is an opportunity for the community of faith, as well as an opportunity for the priest himself, to reflect on the priest’s journey of faith with God since accepting the call to service. It also is a time for the congregation to honor and recognize the sacrifice of that service. The special Mass included the choir, normally on hiatus during the summer, singing many songs, several of them celebrating God’s calling.
While the June 22 celebration for Turek was a local one, clergy and guests from across the eight-county Diocese of Cleveland gathered May 21 at St. Basil the Great Church in Brecksville for the annual jubilee Mass celebrating the 60th, 50th, 40th and 25th anniversaries of ordinations for diocesan priests. Turek was one of 17 priests in the Diocese of Cleveland celebrating 50 years of ministry. Twelve priests were recognized by the diocese for 60 years of ministry, seven priests celebrated 40 years of ministry and one priest celebrated his first jubilee of 25 years of service.
“It is such a joy to be here with you today,” said Bishop Edward Milesic, the celebrant for the May 21 event. “I am so grateful for you and what you do.”
St. Agnes is grateful to Father Turek for his service to the church community and hopes his tradition of service may inspire new vocations.