St. Patrick’s priest looks forward to new community, mission in Holyoke

    Believe it or not, a priest’s collar is not tattooed onto his neck. Holyoke welcomed St. Patrick Catholic Church’s new priest, Father Jerry Rohr, to town Tuesday, June 13.
    Rohr has been enjoying getting to know the community (in street clothes) since his arrival and presiding over daily and Sunday Masses (in clerics) since Thursday, June 15.
    Priests generally serve six years in a given parish before being reassigned by their archdiocese. Father Bill Jungmann, after serving Holyoke’s St. Patrick’s, Haxtun’s Christ the King and Fleming’s St. Peter’s Catholic churches for 12 years, has been reassigned to St. Louis Catholic Church in Englewood.
    Taking Jungmann’s place, Rohr comes from St. Rose of Lima in Denver, a parish that also encompasses a Catholic school. “We did a lot of amazing things there — we were very blessed,” said Rohr of his former parish. “It’s one of two Catholic schools in the Denver Archdiocese that has a waiting list to get in.”
    While Rohr felt very blessed and grateful for his time with the community of St. Rose of Lima, he is also looking forward to getting to know his new community here. “St. Patrick’s is my mission now,” he said of his new assignment. “I enjoy the opportunity to pray with any community I’m with.”
    The relaxed, personable priest, now 62, grew up in Commerce City, graduating from Adams City High School and, later, the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. He was called to the priesthood at 39 after working as a hospital lab technician for several years and attended Conception Seminary College and St. Thomas Seminary.
    “It was a slow journey, but fortunately God is very patient,” said Rohr. He has since served at several Front Range parishes.
    Rohr intends to keep the current schedule at the area parishes — 5 p.m. Mass at Christ the King and 7:30 p.m. Neocatechumenal Mass at St. Patrick’s on Saturdays; and 8 a.m. Mass at St. Patrick’s, 10:30 a.m. Mass at St. Peter’s and 4 p.m. Spanish Mass at St. Patrick’s on Sundays.
    Rohr can be reached at 970-854-2762 at St. Patrick Catholic Church.