Father McCaffrey redefines retirement -
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Published on: 1/1/2003
Last Visited: 12/3/2006
COLUMBIA , Father Edmund McCaffrey, Ph.D., has been a Benedictine monk, political science professor who founded and headed the Political Science Department at Belmont Abbey College, visiting professor, writer, Abbot ordinary of the Belmont Abbey monastery and pastor.
He continues to wears the hats of lecturer, pilgrimage leader, organization director, spiritual director, and retreat master.In each of his assignments, he has made his faith his foundation, and for that reason most of his initiatives still stand today.
In January, the priest retired from being pastor of Holy Family Church in Hilton Head.For Father McCaffrey retirement certainly has not meant slowing down.Even while recovering from an injury to his Achilles heel, he remained on the go with a smile on his face and his appointment book on hand.
His calendar for 2003 is filling quickly with retreats, speeches, and conferences.He has already been booked for two Lenten retreats and recently was a keynote speaker for an anniversary celebration in Charlotte, N.C.
In addition, he is planning a regional gathering in Tampa for the Institute on Religious Life (IRL), an organization that he, Father John Hardon, Bishop James Hogan and William Isaacson co-founded.
He started the organization when he was Abbot Ordinary of Belmont Abbey Monastery in North Carolina.
"We wanted to preserve the gift of consecrated life as envisioned by Vatican II, which not only included religious but the laity, too," said the priest, who pointed out that vocations come from families
This April, Father McCaffrey will be attending the IRL's national meeting in Chicago, where he will receive the institute's 2003 Pro Fidelitate et Virtute Award for manifesting "notable support and promotion of the consecrated life."
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In 1990 two men, Bill Smith and Jim Likoudis, approached Fathers McCaffrey and Hardon at an IRL conference.
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Others recognize the name Father McCaffrey as a faithful pilgrim of Fatima, Portugal, where he has taken an annual trip to "this place of spiritual healing" for 18 years.With each trip he brings as many seminarians as possible.
"It does the laity good to meet such fine young men, and the seminarians benefit from the support of the laity," he said.
To the young seminarians as well as the newly ordained, Father McCaffrey offers this advice that has been helpful to him throughout the years, "Stay close to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Mother.If you want to be holy say the rosary and go to confession regularly.Also be attentive to the Holy Father, listen to what he says because he is the Vicar of Christ and one of the greatest popes in the history of the church."
Father McCaffrey could not pin point just one person who influenced his vocation.Certainly his parents and their strong commitment to Catholic education provided him with good role models from elementary school through college.It was in these Catholic institutions that he developed a love of God, a love of learning and a love of teaching.
Since he came to the diocese he has made a mark in South Carolina as a pastor at St. Michael Church in Garden City (a parish he helped start), Divine Redeemer in Hanahan and Holy Family in Hilton Head.
Today as a retiree, Father McCaffrey finds himself once again a trailblazer, who will test the boundaries and possibly redefine what it means to be a retired priest.
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