By Julie A. Miller
Catholic Herald

Sabbaticals are a time to revitalize and recharge the batteries

This is the fourth of a six-part series based on A New Springtime, a pastoral letter by Bishop Raphael M. Fliss.

Part IV: "... planning efforts undertaken by the Diocese of Superior ... should: Invest the resources necessary into the affirmation and strengthening of priesthood within the diocese."

LAC DU FLAMBEAU -- Everyone, including priests, needs a chance to take a break from regular work. That can take the form of a vacation, a retreat or an educational sabbatical.

Fr. James Bartelme, pastor of St. Anthony de Padua Parish, Lac du Flambeau and St. Mary Parish, Odanah, understands that need and took a short sabbatical in 1996. He said the break was a chance to revitalize and recharge his batteries.

Bishop Raphael M. Fliss, in his pastoral letter, "A New Springtime," acknowledges the need for priests to have time away from their parishes and to take advantage of educational opportunities. The fourth principle in the letter is "Invest the resources necessary into the affirmation and strengthening of priesthood within the diocese." Fliss includes possible priest staffing strategies to help assure there are priests available to help out when a pastor is away. That helps facilitate another strategy -- assuring that priests avail themselves of opportunities for vacation, holiday leave and opportunities for continuing priestly formation.

Bartelme said he started making plans for a sabbatical about six years ago after he heard about a six week archeological dig in Israel. He said wasn't sure if that qualified as a sabbatical under the diocesan policies, but checked and learned that it did. Then he discovered the real problem. He said, "I could not find anyone that would help out during those six weeks and I was running five Masses a weekend in my parishes at the time."

Bartelme said he was frustrated but determined to do something. Earlier that year he had passed through Gallup, N.M., and had stopped at a Zuni mission. Bartelme still had the phone number of Fr. Dale Jamison, the priest he had talked to there. Bartelme called Jamison and asked if he could come to New Mexico for a month.

Jamison agreed and offered to let him stay in a trailer he had. He told Bartelme, "You can work with the teachers, build a school -- whatever you want to do. You don't have to do anything.'

Bartelme said, "I drove out there and pretty much had the month to myself where I could travel around. A few times I took a couple days off and went up to Taos and visited the priest there who took me up to the pueblo."

Although he traveled around a little bit, most of his time was spent in the school "hanging out" with the students. He said, "I really liked the kids and I still have some contacts. I was out there again this summer, in fact just very briefly."

A few times Bartelme filled in for a teacher in the classroom and on weekends he said Masses.

Bartelme is grateful to his host. "He didn't charge me a cent to be there. It wasn't the most luxurious quarters either, but it was all I needed."

When Bartelme returned from his sabbatical, he shared some excerpts from his journal with Catholic Herald readers in the Jan. 9, 1997 edition and described the attraction of that part of he world. He wrote, "It is difficult to explain, but there is something mystical about the red rock, mesas, buttes and forests. ... The geographical features are part of their 'mythology,' their story as a people."

What benefits did Bartelme get from his brief sabbatical in New Mexico?

Bartelme said it provided an opportunity to do something different. "For myself it gave me a month in an area that I didn't know a whole lot about at the time -- a culture that I was a real minority in."

But, Bartelme said, "I never felt any problems ... even though I knew I was not 'one of them' and there were certain places I could not go or certain things you couldn't see."

Some of the restrictions were due to the actions of past tourists who did not respect the culture of the Zuni. Bartelme said, "Their dances were closed at the time because someone had taken a snapshot and the elders had shut everything down. If you were not a native you were not allowed in anything. Somebody else goofed and ruined it for everyone."

Bartelme is still reaping benefits of the sabbatical in his day-to-day ministry. He said, "It gave me a chance to just step back and relax and I hated to come back, of course, but at least I have been able to use experiences or things that happened -- that pop up in homilies or discussions."

Bartelme has also shared his experiences with some parishioners in a more direct way when he took a group of five high school students on a trip to the Zuni mission. He said, "We went around to different areas and unfortunately it didn't work out as well as I thought because in summer there aren't any school kids around and no teachers."

It still proved to be a real educational experience for the students, however. Bartelme said, "We were able to take these kids, you know -- from central Wisconsin -- take them out to an area and see some things they never would have seen before, done before."

None of the students on the trip were Native American and for the first time they had the experience of being in the minority. Bartelme said, "They didn't like it being a minority that just stuck out walking down the street. But I think it was an opportunity they wouldn't have had otherwise."

While on the trip Bartelme and the students had a profound and unexpected eucharistic experience. Bartelme explained that the group was taking a tour of a 700-year-old Hopi village that is still inhabited by about seven elderly women. "It's one of the oldest continuously occupied villages in the country," Bartelme said. He has visited the pueblo a few times in the past.

When one of the women approached the group, Bartelme remembered that her name was Bertha. He had bought a small pot from her the year before. When he mentioned that to Bertha, she said, "Oh, I have bread for you. I just made it this morning. Let me go get it."

Bartelme said Bertha came back with a huge loaf of Hopi bread and he said to the students, "Do you know what happened here kids? It was a pure gift. She said, 'I have bread for you' and what does Jesus do? He says 'I have life for you.'"

Bartelme is sure the woman didn't remember him, but gave them this "pure gift" anyway. He added that the village has no electricity and no water supply. The woman probably baked the bread over a wood fire or a wood stove."

Bartelme said he has used this experience in homilies on the Eucharist several times and added that the students would not have had this profound experience if he had taken his sabbatical the year before.

Summing up the sabbatical experience, Bartelme said, "It leads to a growth in yourself and I think that's what a sabbatical is for."

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2001