Pictured is Owego native Deacon Mike Fowler, who is to be ordained a Catholic Priest on June 21 in Rochester. (Provided Photo)
People may be confused as to why Saint Patrick’s Parish in Owego answers to the Rochester Archdiocese, but it’s rather simple, according to Mike Fowler. Originally, there was just one Upstate Diocese, seated in Buffalo. When the Rochester Diocese was formed in 1868, Buffalo held on to as much territory as possible. Similarly, when the Syracuse Diocese was formed, Fowler said Rochester held on to as much territory as possible. Thus, Owego answers to Rochester.
Fowler should know this, as he is completing his six years of education to become a Diocesan Priest for the Rochester Diocese. “It’s been like going to college for four years,” Fowler said, referring to the completion of his formal education at St. John Fisher College. There’s also been a yearlong internship at a parish near Rochester, and a year of formal discernment.
Becoming a priest has been a life-long desire for Fowler, but it’s also a second career for him. Fowler married and fathered children, attended SUNY Geneseo and graduate school at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He then went on to a career at IBM/Lockheed Martin in Owego. Years later, Fowler said, he had a revelation while visiting a family friend on Armstrong Place in Owego, Jean Brill. She said Fowler should have been a priest after saying the Rosary together.
That was 14 years ago, Fowler said, and he’s considered himself in discernment for the priesthood ever since.
Fowler grew up at 19 Armstrong Place, and recalled celebrating mass as a child with makeshift accoutrements and willing participants in his parents. He was raised in the Catholic faith, and attended St. Patrick’s School. Fowler recalled fondly when the school was administered by the Sisters of Mercy, and said that after the Sisters left, the school was not the same.
When he was attending St. Patrick’s, Fowler said he had one fond memory that stood out. When Robert F. Kennedy was running for the U.S. Senate in New York, he visited Owego Free Academy. Fowler said the Sisters found out about it, and Kennedy’s route of travel; then the Sisters strategically placed ‘lookouts’ on the street corners of downtown Owego. When Kennedy’s motorcade appeared, the Sisters sent out the message, Fowler said, and the school emptied out to greet him.
With over 100 students lined up along the wrought iron fence that used to line the property, Fowler said Kennedy spotted them and told his driver to stop. “You could tell he told his driver to pull over,” Fowler said, “the rest of the motorcade kept going!” Kennedy got out and shook a bunch of hands among the excited students, even signing one student’s cast.
“I was one of the lucky ones who shook his hand,” Fowler said. And he didn’t want to let go, grasping Kennedy’s hand and trying not to let go. Being a skilled campaigner by then, Fowler said Kennedy had a move down which allowed him to escape his grasp and move on. It’s a story Fowler said he tells his own children and grandchildren.
Fowler said he hopes to be assigned to a local church, though he could be assigned anywhere in the 12 counties covered by the Rochester Diocese. Four churches make up the Blessed Trinity and St. Patrick Parish alone, Fowler said. On Saturday, June 20, 2015, Fowler will be ordained a priest of Jesus Christ by Bishop Salvatore Matano at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester. The following day, Father’s Day, Sunday, June 21, Father Fowler will lead the 9 a.m. Mass at St. Patrick’s Church in Owego. Everyone is invited to attend.
