Father Bernie Etienne Will Receive NCEA 'Distinguished Pastor Award'
As he stood before a crowd of students, faculty and guests at Holy Rosary School, Evansville, that had gathered to honor him as recipient of the 2013 National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) Distinguished Pastor Award, Father Bernie Etienne reflected on a late 2005 meeting with then Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger.
“He said, ‘I think this is the year I’m going to need you to go to Evansville,’” Father Etienne said. “One of the places he mentioned was Holy Rosary Church, and I told him there was something in my heart that was calling me (there). He said, ‘Well, that’s where it’s going be then.’”
A little over seven years later, it’s now safe to say that Father Etienne’s heart was calling him to the right place. On Jan. 15, the students, parents and faculty of Holy Rosary got an opportunity to celebrate and thank their pastor at an emotional ceremony in the school’s gymnasium.
“Father Bernie has been selected as one of 12 NCEA Distinguished Pastor Award recipients in the nation,” Bishop Charles C. Thompson told those assembled. “That’s a great honor, and it’s well deserved. His complete generosity of his time and his talent make him a treasure to us and among us. It’s reflected in his words and in his actions, in his complete giving of himself.”
Holy Rosary eighth grader Elise Milligan spoke for her fellow students when she said, “Father Bernie greets us in the morning before school and welcomes us each by name. Every time I see him, he always says ‘hi’ and gives me a high five.”
Milligan went on to say that Father Etienne “finds ways to make the readings relate” to the lives of young people. “I pay more attention at Mass because he often has a funny story about when he was growing up,” she said.
Milligan also shared the deeply personal memory of Father Etienne informing her that her grandfather had passed away. “At the age of 8, I didn’t really know what to do, think or say,” she said. “But having Father Bernie there made me feel at peace.”
Bonnie Ambrose, a teacher at Holy Rosary since 1973, compared Father Etienne to the man who hired her - the late Monsignor Maurelius Bilskie. She shared a story about watching Father Etienne, back in early 2006, as he greeted those coming to 7:30 a.m. Mass.
“Like Maurelius Bilskie, he was out there in full vestment,” she said. “And everyone of the elderly ladies arriving for that early Mass were being greeted by him.”
Among a few others who spoke at the award celebration was Brother Lawrence Murphy, president of Reitz Memorial High School, who said, “We at Memorial are very grateful for Father Bernie for all he has done to provide leadership for our young people, and for the time and effort he puts in to make an investment in the future of all of us, and of all of our young men and women.”
Given an opportunity to address the crowd, Father Etienne touched on a brief period 18 years ago when he found himself without a parish. At the time, he served as full-time Director of Vocations for the diocese.
“Every week, I would go to a different parish and speak about vocations,” he explained, fighting to keep his emotions in check. “And after eight or nine months of that, I talked to Bishop (Gerald A.) Gettelfinger, and I said, ‘Bishop, I’ll do this vocation work as long as you want me to, but priesthood outside of parish life, it’s not making sense to me.’”
Father Etienne said being a pastor “is really the essence of what it means to be a priest.” “Pastoring,” he said, “is the heart of what being a priest is.”
Bishop Gettelfinger responded to Father Etienne’s concerns back in 1995 by naming him the pastor of St. Joseph, Princeton, where he served for a decade (while also becoming pastor of Blessed Sacrament, Oakland City, in 1999).
“The people there taught me what it means to be a pastor,” said Father Etienne. “And to their credit, they trusted and walked with me, and allowed me to grow, and they grew with me. It was a wonderful experience.”
Father Etienne, who is vicar general for the diocese and dean of the East Deanery in addition to his pastoral duties, also took time to acknowledge the love and support of his parents, Paul and Kay Etienne, who were in attendance.
“I have been blessed to grow up in a family that, because of their efforts and their true devotion to being a Christian family, a Christ-based family that truly puts Jesus at the center, provided me with a true foundation. For that I’m very grateful.”
Father Etienne also spoke about the late Father Patrick Foster, former pastor of St. Joseph Church, Jasper. He said Father Foster took him under his wing back in 1993, when the newly ordained Father Etienne became associate pastor at St. Joseph.
“He began to show me what it was like to be a pastor, the true effect of pastoring,” said Father Etienne. “He took me into his confidence, he tested ideas with me, he entrusted responsibility to me and he stretched me. And that helped me get ready.”
Born in Tell City, Ind., in 1958, Father Etienne graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Marketing and Management. In his late 20s, he moved to Southern Indiana to sell orthopedic implants and became very involved in youth ministry at St. John the Baptist Church, Newburgh.
“It became apparent that the real joy and peace in my life was coming from the ministry and the youth group members had helped me recognize that I was capable of being a minister,” Father Etienne wrote in a webpage bio several years ago. “It was in this work that I found true fulfillment. I made the decision to sell my house, give up the business and enter the seminary. On my 30th birthday, I was in Chicago interviewing for admission to Mundelein Seminary.”
During the Jan. 15 award ceremony, Bishop Thompson took an opportunity to publicly, yet personally thank Father Etienne for his commitment to the entire diocese.
“Thank you for that very first ‘yes’ you said to God,” he said. “Thank you for that ‘yes’ you said to priesthood, to becoming pastor, becoming dean, becoming vicar general. And for all the many ways you continue to echo Mary’s ‘yes’ to God.”
