Retired priest goes from shepherding to fishing

The Rev. Tom Fitzgerald understands the verse from Matthew's gospel -- "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" -- on several levels.

After 46 years in the ministry, Fitzgerald retired this summer from the Church of St. Genevieve in Centerville. And while he's scaling back on the "fishers of men" duties, he's continuing with his other favorite job -- fishing for fish.

"Fishing can teach us so much," Fitzgerald said. "You never know if you're going to get anything. You can't assume anything. It teaches you that you can't assume. And it teaches you patience."

And on days when the fish don't bite, "you can just be there and fish and enjoy the scenery ... and it just feels good to be alive," he said.

"When you get out there on the lake, it's just a very peaceful thing."

Fishing has always been a part of Fitzgerald's life, dating to no-frills trips with his father as a child.

"My Dad took me fishing at Turtle Lake, and we used to rent a boat for a $1 a day and row," he said.

A calling to the church

Fitzgerald, 72, graduated in 1958 from St. Agnes School in St. Paul. He was a counselor at the Catholic Youth Camp (CYC) and attended St. Paul Seminary.

He was ordained in 1966 and served at the Cathedral of St. Paul until 1973, when he was appointed pastor at St. Michael's in Stillwater. Stillwater was home until 1987, and his next assignment was pastor at St. Rita's in Cottage Grove.

It was 1999 when Fitzgerald came to Centerville as St. Genevieve's 23rd pastor. He's been there ever since.

"I like to set down roots," he said with a laugh. "It takes a while to get to know all the people. It's been 13 years at St. Genevieve. I come, I stay, and then I leave."

The chef's secret

He has a reputation for cooking up homemade sunfish dinners after he's been on the lake. Each year, his sunfish dinner is raffled off at the St. Genevieve's Parish Picnic silent auction -- for big money.

The top bidder gets a sunfish dinner party for eight to 10 guests, prepared, served and blessed by the chef at his lakeside home by the church.

"No secret to it," he said. "Just grind up saltine crackers, and dip them in there, don't use egg. It's a dry batter, but very light. And fry it really hot until brown and crispy. Then you taste the fish, and not the batter!"

Now the retired priest lives in White Bear Township. Fitzgerald said he's getting used to being able to fish on days besides Thursday, which was always his day off.

A fish story

Fitzgerald added that anglers are anglers.

They don't expect to cast nets into the water and pull up fish just because a priest is in the boat. He remembered a day a few years ago when he really wanted the fishing to be good.

A local TV camera crew was tagging along to do a story on the fishing priest.

"It was the worst fishing of my whole life," he said. "It was just awful. I pulled up one tiny fish, and that was it. But even though I've had some really good fishing days, I've had bad ones, too. But it's still fishing.