Retired priest celebrates Masses for fellow residents at senior living facility

By Michael Gresham
The Texas Catholic

Hours before dozens of residents and guests gather at The Tradition Prestonwood for a Sunday celebration of Mass, Father Michael T. Barry moves about the room, quietly transitioning it from a community theater to a place of worship.

It is a ritual the retired priest from the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois has done since arriving at the north Dallas senior living facility.

“When I arrived, I learned that there were a lot of Catholics here who couldn’t get to a Mass,” said Father Barry, 78, adding that many took the opportunity to watch the Diocese of Dallas’ televised Mass. “It’s a reality that many of us face as we get older: being able to actually receive the sacraments becomes a big challenge. I was living here, so it was easy enough to have a Sunday Mass.”

Father Barry celebrates Mass each Sunday at 9:45 a.m. for a mixed congregation of residents, guests, and staff numbering around 30 people.

“We have a good, consistent group,” he said. “Faithful people who want to stay engaged with their faith, with the Catholic Church.”

Called to the priesthood
While Father Barry answered the call to the priesthood for a different diocese, he is no stranger to north Texas. Born in Pennsylvania, Father Barry’s family moved to Dallas in 1952, when he was a child. He received First Communion at Christ the King Catholic Church in 1953 from Msgr. Wilfred J. Bender and then received the sacrament of confirmation at St. Monica Catholic Church in 1958.

His family then moved to Connecticut, where he attended boarding school before studying political science and graduating from Stanford University in California in 1968. After college, Father Barry joined the “Volunteers for Asia” program, traveling to Portuguese Macau to teach.

“So, here in this Portuguese colony, you had Chinese students with an American teacher who is trying to teach them British literature,” Father Barry said. “It was challenging, but very rewarding.”

Father Barry then returned to the U.S., studying International Relations for two years at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. in preparation for becoming a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State. He would serve as a U.S. diplomat for nearly 24 years, stationed around the world in places such as the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and eventually Poland.

It was in Poland in the mid-1980s that his life would change.

“It was a position in Warsaw where I could be in charge of the Consulate General in Krakow,” he said. “As a way of operating, I found it very convenient to be associated with the Catholic Church. I was in a public way very closely associated with the Church, the cardinal, and archbishop.”

After a few months on the job, he received an invitation to attend an early morning Mass with Pope John Paul II and then meet the pope following the Mass.

“It was then that my life was transformed,” Father Barry recalled. “My whole interest became the Church.”

The retired priest credited his interactions with St. John Paul II and witnessing his impact on the people of Poland as igniting his faith and inspiring his call to the priesthood.

“I saw what was happening in Poland, when John Paul II was pope, and the influence the Church had. It was a prayerful Church,” Father Barry said. “I remember going on a Saturday morning to a parish in Krakow, and I was stunned to see that church was full of people of all ages — from elderly to teenagers — all down on their knees on the cement in prayer. It was amazing to witness.”

He left his government position a few years later, returning to the U.S. to study theology at St. John’s University in Minnesota, and began discerning a vocation in the priesthood.

“The challenge was finding a bishop who would consider taking into their seminary someone who was 55 years old,” he said. “I found that bishop in Bishop [Thomas G.] Doran in Rockford, Illinois.”

Father Barry was ordained in 2006, serving in parishes and the jail ministry for the Diocese of Rockford until retiring in 2013.

“After retiring, I continued to help around the diocese, serving in different parishes, many of them rural,” he said.

Fulfilling faith
Father Barry returned to Texas in 2022 at the bequest of his older brother who lives in Plano. He moved into The Tradition Prestonwood and almost immediately noticed that while there were nondenominational and other services offered at the facility, no Catholic Mass was offered.

And that’s when he met fellow resident and Catholic Peter L. Philip.

“He got after me almost immediately and just wouldn’t let up,” Father Barry joked. “He was pushing me to have a Mass.”

“I was really surprised he was so willing to do this for us,” said Philip, who prior to moving into the senior living facility was a longtime parishioner at Christ the King. “We are all truly grateful he did.”

Father Barry then connected with the Diocese of Dallas chancellor’s office, getting the proper documentation from his home diocese, and began celebrating Masses for residents and guests in November 2022. In addition to celebrating Masses, Father Barry hears confessions and administers the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick for residents.

“He has provided many normal parish activities, including Ash Wednesday and Holy Week services,” Philip said. “His presence has been a tremendous blessing to us all. Many of the residents here no longer drive and would be unable to receive the sacraments if not for Father Michael.”

Philip’s peers at the senior living facility agree.

“This has been a blessing,” said Dave Kane, who had been a parishioner at All Saints and St. Michael the Archangel in McKinney.

“It’s been truly wonderful.”

Cutline for featured image: Father Michael T. Barry, a retired priest from the Diocese of Rockford, Ill., celebrates Mass for his fellow residents at The Tradition Prestonwood, a north Dallas senior living facility, on May 26.