Communities help Father Tero celebrate his Golden Anniversary as a priest

The 50th anniversary of Father Richard Tero’s priesthood was celebrated in early June in Seward and Cooper Landing. St. John Neumann Mission held a potluck gathering in Cooper Landing after Father Tero celebrates the 12:30 p.m. Mass on June 2. Sacred Heart Parish will hold 5:30 p.m. Mass on June 4. A prime rib dinner will be served afterward. Archbishop Andrew Bellisario, C.M., Archbishop Emeritus Roger Schwietz, and Bishop Emeritus of Great Falls-Billings Michael Warfel will officiate to commemorate this golden anniversary.

The public is invited to help Seward and Cooper Landing thank Father Tero for his 50 years of dedication to God and for serving the parishes and people of Alaska.

“For twenty-two years he serves Sunday morning Mass in Seward and then drives 42 miles up the Seward highway, to deliver Mass again to his parishioners in the Landing. No matter the weather, his dedication has been unwavering,” wrote parishioner Yvette Galbraith of Cooper Landing.

Father Tero is now 81 and retired but still serving two communities. He reflected on his experiences in the state, beginning when he drove to Alaska in 1969 as a young man of 25. He said he’s most proud of the work he did helping to build churches at Anchorage, Kodiak, and Soldotna during a key point in Alaska history.

Father Tero was ordained June 4, 1974, at Holy Family Cathedral by Archbishop Joseph T. Ryan. His first assignment as a priest was to Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Spenard. At that point, the peak of Trans-Alaska Pipeline construction, several parishes were breaking ground or just getting started, bursting with the population growth created during boom time. The population in Alaska swelled from about 300,000 people in 1969 to over 600,000 by 1994, according to census data.

“There were a lot of people coming in, but we didn’t yet have many parishes,” Father Tero recalled. “With oil money and a booming economy, things opened fairly quickly. St. Benedict’s in Jewel Lake was established, Holy Family Cathedral was there, but Our Lady of Guadalupe was in Turnagain Elementary School until 1976. Holy Spirit Retreat House, St. Patrick’s – they were all getting started.”

It was an exciting time that required a priest to juggle building plans with caring for parishioners, “a time of growth when parishes held a lot of young families; a time of dynamic changes and gatherings.

“It was a great experience. I felt the lord called me to Alaska as a priest. I kept moving, thinking ‘Let’s get excited. Let’s get involved in the Lord’s work here,’” he said.

Father Tero served Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish from 1974 to 1978; St. Mary’s Parish in Kodiak from 1978 to 1984, St. Patrick’s Parish in Muldoon from 1984 to 1992; and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Soldotna from 1992 to 2002. In September 2002, he became pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Seward and visiting priest to Cooper Landing’s St. John Neumann Catholic Mission.

Kodiak’s king crab fishery was largely responsible for the booming economy and population when Father Tero first went there in the late ‘70s. He began building plans for a new church that was completed after he left.

St. Patrick’s was a large city parish of about 800 families, many of them military. He was asked to plan for a new church, immersing him in fund-raising and building committee meetings. It was completed in 1996 by his successor, Father Steven Moore.

Father Tero saw an even more pressing need at Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Soldotna. Built in 1962, the old church was poorly heated and had no bathrooms. A front door led directly to the elements. After pledge drives and many building committee meetings, the Soldotna community saw its new church dedicated in 1995. Father Tero was able to enjoy the new church with his parishioners for seven years before being transferred to Seward.

Though officially retired for the past 12 years, Father Tero’s walk for the Lord hasn’t slowed down much.

One of his great joys was being outdoors for epic hikes and canoe trips, journeys he shared with parishioners and fellow priests. He skied many slopes, hiked trails, and forded rivers, including the Alsek, Yukon, Talkeetna, Charlie, Mulchatna, and the Canning north of the Brooks Range near Prudhoe Bay.

“I majored in history at college and a lot of the outdoor trips related to historic events, so I was able to combine my love for history and being outdoors,” he said. The ventures tended to be following key Catholic points in Alaska history.

Father Louis Renner wrote in “Alaskana Catholica” how he, Father Tero, and Father Francis Mueller, “wanting to walk in the footsteps of the first Jesuit missionaries to enter Alaska, hiked the historic Chilkoot Trail. Father Tero’s Mass kit, carried on his back, was standard equipment on his wilderness outings.”

In July 1979, Father Tero held services at the site where the first Mass in Alaska had been celebrated 200 years earlier: at Port Santa Cruz, Suemez Island, and Bucareli Bay near Craig in southeast Alaska.

In 1986, on the banks of the Yukon, he and Father Mike Shields offered Mass at the site where Archbishop Charles J. Seghers had been murdered 100 years earlier. In hand was the chalice Seghers used on his own journey floating to Nulato on the Yukon River, which the priests used in the service.

In Dawson City, Father Tero visited sites where Father William Judge, S.J., known as the Saint of Dawson, had ministered to the gold miners of the Klondike Gold Rush.

“I like to dabble in Church history and Alaska Catholic history,” he said. “I try to travel where history has happened. I grew up in New England, and history has always been of interest to me.”

One interest that Father Tero does not have is in using computers or smartphones. “I saw how they used up people’s time and thought I could be doing other things,” he said. He devotes time instead to work and is an ardent reader.

As he has for 22 years, Father Tero continues to work with prisoners at Spring Creek in Seward, praying with them and saying Mass each Saturday. Some prisoners he has known for many years. For him, a life of involvement also included active military service and 18 years as a reserve chaplain assigned to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. His service in the military came before becoming a priest, during the Vietnam War, stationed at US Air Force bases in New Mexico and Montana, and ended service at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks. The combined 22 years in the military gives him a military retirement.

“As I look back, I see that I got to meet a lot of wonderful people, work in a lot of communities, and with Catholics who love the church, loved Jesus, and the Blessed Mother. It’s been very exciting,” Father Tero said. “When you travel outside and people find that you’re a priest in Alaska, they seem to light up. I wouldn’t have wanted to live any other place.”