Guided by faith: Loss of eyesight doesn't stop retired priest

By: CATHY REDFERN - Staff Writer | Thursday, January 24, 2008 12:12 AM PST ∞

SUN CITY -- Monsignor Ray Kirk lost his eyesight gradually, due to macular degeneration.

Yet, the retired priest works almost as hard as when he was a full-time parish priest. He regularly celebrates Mass at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, hears confession, visits the ill at Menifee Valley Medical Center and, in convalescent homes, runs a support group for the visually impaired and leads a contemplative prayer group.

Kirk, 74, lost sight in one eye while in his 50s and then most of his sight in the other by the time he was 70. He said there was a time when he thought his world would end, along with his vision. But, these days, he talks more about what blindness has added to his life, what it is that he now sees more clearly.

"The greatest sense I've seen come to the fore is a spiritual one, an inner vision," he said. "I feel God has taken away one thing and replaced it with a greater sense of his presence in my life and an ability to respond to others, particularly those who have disabilities."

Kirk, who is of Irish descent, was born in Chicago. He has been a priest for 49 years; half of them in the San Diego and Riverside county areas. He moved to Sun City when he retired four years ago.

While he once taught high school and served as director of missions for the Diocese of San Diego -- traveling to India, South America and Africa -- he now spends a lot of time close to home, with seniors. And the longtime dachshund owner is now eternally grateful to an 85-pound yellow lab named McConnell, a guide dog who goes everywhere with him, including to the altar.

"I'm just the priest with the dog," he said during a recent interview at a church office, with McConnell sprawled on the carpet beside him. "People greet him first. I had a mother tell me she no longer has trouble getting her children to go to Mass because they know the dog will be there."

Kirk says he loves Sun City because he can walk everywhere -- to the community pool, the market, his doctor's office, church. He lives with another retired priest, Don Webber, whom he has known since the two attended seminary together. He said they had planned to split the household duties, but that Webber, a former vicar-general, or chief deputy to the bishop, has to do most of it.

At St. Vincent Ferrer, Kirk helps Rev. Antonio Das Neves minister to a parish that has grown to 2,600 families. He celebrates three Masses each week. Parishioners assist him, he said, and he has the prayers memorized, but can no longer use notes to help with his sermons. But that has turned out to be one of those blessings in disguise, Kirk said.

"I'm able to preach from my heart," he said. "They tell me it's more effective."

Parishioner Doris Murphy, 90, of Sun City, wholeheartedly agrees with that.

"He's brilliant," she said. "I've been Catholic for 50 years, but he has a beautiful way of explaining things.The sermons seem to come flowing out of him.

"I love him and I love his dog up there," she added.

Kirk started the Visually Impaired Persons Group about three years ago with a woman he met at the Sun City Civic Association pool, Linda Meiter. The group consists of about 30 people, mostly Christians, with varying degrees of impairment, he said.

Claire Menard, a senior citizen who is legally blind, discovered the group about a year ago, she said.

"The monsignor helps a whole bunch," she said. "He understands. I know I'm not alone."

Kirk says parishioners frequently talk to him about the challenges of aging, and some have told him that witnessing how he deals with blindness inspires them to cope with their own disabilities.

He said he understands how hard it can be to be dependent on others, but believes that any kind of disability can help bring people closer to God and to other people.

Kirk said he has learned to be grateful; for 70 years with sight, for his vocation, for technology such as the JAWS software that reads his e-mail to him, for many things. He said he tries hard to live in the moment. It's a good life, he said, though his blindness and the things he had to give up led to some agonizing times.

"I only hope that I've done a little good along the way," he said.

Kirk paused, lifting his hands from where they had been folded on a desk. With a smile, he said he thinks it might be time for him to go, that he has a meeting at 10 a.m. Pressing a button on his watch, a voice tells him it's 9:45 a.m. He could see the outline of a person and extended his hand for a goodbye shake.

He said people expect his eyes to "look blind," but they don't. He looks directly at people to let them know he is listening to them.

Then, he looked down at his dog, and McConnell raised his head.

"Come on, sweetheart," he said.

-- Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or credfern@californian.com.