Seeing up close a devoted pastor at work, as I did two weeks ago, can up-lift the soul. On a visit to his church in Cocoa Beach, Florida, I had the chance to observe how a truly dedicated priest serves his God and his people. I came away from the experience buoyed up in spirit and encouraged that such a person is at work in the church.

Eamon Tobin grew up on a farm in rural Ireland. As a boy he did all of the chores which fall to a farmer’s sons – – milking the cows, keeping track of the sheep, and bringing in the hay, among other tasks. Going off to the seminary at a young age, he remedied the many gaps in the education provided him in his native village’s one-room schoolhouse.

At the time of his ordination, Ireland had more priests than the church there needed. As a result, he was recruited by an enterprising bishop based in Florida. Emigrating there, Father Tobin came to the new diocese of Orlando where priests were in demand.

For the past dozen years or so he has been pastor of a large church which overflows with people in retirement. In the winter, the so-called “snowbirds” swell the population of older people even more. But many younger people, and families with children also belong to the parish.

Tall (six feet, two inches), slim, his face adorned with a small blondish beard, Eamon Tobin shows himself warm and genial to the many people he meets. I remember him standing outside the church in the warm sun, greeting parishioners of all descriptions, shaking hands and receiving the hugs of many.

Eamon Tobin is a man of vision. Just inviting a gerontologist down was a sign of his far-sightedness. After all, churchgoers of whatever tradition almost never hear a sermon on the subject of growing into old age. But he has taken the initiative to provide spiritual nourishment for  his older parishioners He himself is committed to the spiritual and intellectual life. He writes well; I bought his excellent book on prayer. He not only reads widely but makes good books available to members of his parish and encourages them to read.

As the only priest at the parish, Father Tobin realizes that he must delegate many pastoral tasks to lay people. This he does well, as his staff members attest. The latter, some dozen men and women, meet under his direction every week. They begin their meetings with an hour’s reflection and prayer around the scriptural readings for the following Sunday. Staff members admire the pastor’s basic response to proposals for action: “Let’s try it . . . if God backs it, it will flourish – –  if not, it will die.”

He also delegates tasks to ordinary members of the parish. In fact, Fr. Tobin considers it one of his own ministries to ask people to do things that he judges appropriate for them and he gives much thought to these requests.

The pastor manages an annual budget of well over a million dollars. To express one of his priorities, he has committed the parish to tithe. Thus, at least one-tenth of this budget goes to poor churches in Peru and Haiti, along with contributions to poor people at home. In addition, Fr. Tobin tithes his own salary, a fact that he publishes only reluctantly to encourage others.

The pastor is, of course, very busy. However, as I had the opportunity to observe as a guest in his rectory, he makes time for daily prayer of his own. Predictably, he must visit the sick often. When I accompanied him to a local hospital as he visited a dying parishioner, it was touching to observe how he felt stricken for the man and his young family.

The last time I visited Ireland, specifically the Bay of Dingle, my attention was drawn one afternoon by a flock of sheep meandering across the gentle hills nearby. They were being kept in line by several small dogs snapping at their heels. But behind them walked a shepherd with a staff in hand who was overseeing his charges. So I, a thoroughly citified person, have seen at least once what a real live shepherd does in the field.

Having observed Eamon Tobin for several days, I can appreciate better than ever before why Jesus called the tender of his spiritual flock the  “good shepherd.” But, unlike the one I saw in the fields of Ireland, this shepherd empower his flock and enables them to share his ministry.

Richard Griffin