Florida Catholic | Called To Serve

Called to serve

Deacons Timothy Cummings and Dac Clement will be ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of St. Petersburg May 17.

KAREN OSBORNE | FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF

Published: 05.09.08

ED FOSTER JR. | FC 2007
Deacon Tim Cummings, left, serves at the altar with Father Robert Morris at St. John Vianney Parish on St. Pete Beach. Deacon Cummings and Deacon Dac Clement are scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood May 17 at the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle.

For Deacon Timothy Cummings, the idea of being a Catholic priest has been bound up with the reality of service to others since an early age.

“When I was 5 or 6 years old, we moved to another parish,” he recalled. While his parents were registering at the parish office, he watched someone he assumed to be the maintenance man mowing the grass.

“The next day, we’re at Mass, and during the procession, who’s the priest? It was Father outside mowing the lawn,” he said.

That left the young Deacon Cummings, who will be ordained to the priesthood with classmate Deacon Dac Clement May 17 at the Cathedral of St. Jude in St. Petersburg, with an indelible image of what it means to be a Catholic priest: “A priest is called to serve the people and to lead people closer to a relationship with God,” he said. “It’s not just myself ministering to them, but they’re also ministering to me. It’s an opportunity to come together and build up the kingdom of God.”

Deacon Cummings took a few minutes to speak to the Florida Catholic during the hectic week before his seminary graduation, which included visits with family and a silent retreat. Due to the tight schedule, Deacon Clement could not be reached for comment.

Deacon Cummings grew up in New York and New Jersey, and moved to Florida to pursue studies in criminal justice at the University of South Florida in Tampa. After his 1992 graduation, he served in the U.S. Navy and went to work as a sales team leader at an industrial-supply company. It was during that time in his life that he started teaching a confirmation class and leading a Life Teen group at Nativity Parish in Brandon – and, inspired by the experience, started to seriously consider a vocation to the priesthood.

“One of the focuses of Life Teen is to lead teens closer to Christ,” said Deacon Cummings. “It wasn’t until working with the confirmation class that I really started paying attention to the liturgy, listening to the priests trying to break open the world and give feedback to help us in our daily lives. It led me in that direction,” he said.

He started talking with the vocations office and took a trip to St. John Vianney Seminary in Miami for a vocation awareness weekend, where he received a taste of seminarians’ prayer and academic life.

“I used to be an extreme introvert, so the idea of getting in front of a large group of people and being able to preach – I never thought I’d be able to do that. In the course of my seven years of formation, it helped me realize that I can do this. I can preach and not be so anxious. Over the course of the seven years … I just pushed myself to take whatever suggestions I was offered, and to push myself deeper and work on the areas” he needed to improve, Deacon Cummings said.

Father Tom Morgan, pastor of St. Lawrence Parish in Tampa, saw the fruits of his labor during Deacon Cummings’ pastoral year at St. Clement Parish in Plant City, where he was pastor. He recalled how Father Cummings led an Our Lady of Guadalupe procession for the Spanish-speaking population from the back of a jeep there, leading prayers in Spanish. Deacon Cummings often exercised his knowledge of Spanish to minister to the parish’s multicultural population, Father Morgan said.

“We had this jeep and on the back of the jeep was this beautiful statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and there were loudspeakers on the jeep, and Tim led the procession. It was inspiring. You’re passing all our brothers and sisters who are Mexican, playing music in Spanish, and I was thinking, ‘What a sign of hope.’ He just jumped right in there,” Father Morgan said. “It was a great joy to have him at St. Clement. He was just so open, I think. What a wonderful gift for a future priest to have – this willingness to do what was being asked of him in serving God’s people.”

“Tim is a kind, gentle soul who has been thinking about the priesthood for a long time, and has really grown tremendously over these years of seminary formation,” said Father Len Plazewski, diocesan director of vocations. “He is a soft-spoken, gentle soul and he really has the heart of a priest.”

Deacon Cummings experienced some of his first challenges in ministry at St. Clement, starting his first Saturday as a transitional deacon. When one of the priests at the parish became sick, he presided over a funeral, followed immediately by 56 baptisms in Spanish. Meeting the challenge convinced him even more of his vocation.

“It was remarkable,” he said. “Just realizing that you’re there participating with the family, celebrating the gift of life and bringing their child into the church – the feeling of being filled with God’s grace is there. When I got done and spent time in reflection afterward, (I thought,) ‘This is just so special.’”

In his new life as a priest, Deacon Cummings looks forward to being able to continue sharing the sacraments with his parishioners, “whether they are preparing babies to come into the church for baptism, first Eucharist, working with teens for Confirmation. Just to be able to walk with couples entering into marriage, to walk into that lifelong decision,” he said.

He has been assigned to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Dunedin, and said that it is important for parishioners to “realize that, while we’re priests, we too walk the same walk and the same journey with them, and we have our struggles, as well, that we’re here to work together and build each other up.”

“I want to express my gratitude and thanks for the people of God that offered their prayers and support and contributions to help fund our education and prepare us for our future ministry,” he said.

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