CAMDEN – On his last week as rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Parish, Father John Fisher, OSFS, thanked the women and men of the city and Diocese for “their presence and faith … on display 24/7,” calling all “a great blessing.”
Completing his six-year term as rector at the end of June, Father Fisher wrote a letter to parishioners: “I feel the Lord is calling me to accept leadership at a different parish where the Oblates serve.” The decision was “made after much discernment, prayer and consultation.”
Starting July 1, Father Fisher became pastor of Our Mother of Consolation Parish in Chestnut Hill, Pa., at the determination of the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales. Father Adam J. Cichoski, director of vocations for the Diocese of Camden, was appointed rector.
The Oblates have ministered at the Cathedral parish for the past 14 years, starting with Father Matthew Hillyard OSFS, rector from 2008 to 2016. Father Michael McCue, OSFS, and Brother Mickey McGrath, OSFS, have served in ministry at the Cathedral parish and around the area for nearly just as long. Father McCue and Brother Mickey will continue to serve in the Diocese and beyond but will no longer be in-residence at the Cathedral.
An oblate for the past 45 years – 34 as a priest – the northeast Philadelphia-born Father Fisher spent his early days as a teacher at various high schools and colleges before deciding to branch out from days of structured lessons and classroom activities.
“I wanted no control; I wanted to let go,” he said, explaining that he sought the Lord’s guidance.
He found this unpredictability in inner-city Camden.
“Although you have an idea of what may happen each day, you’re not really quite sure. Someone can come to the door, you can get called to the hospital, get called to someone’s house, or you find out the roof is leaking. The beauty of this, though, is that you’re preaching every day, and the prayer life intensifies,” he said, adding that preaching includes both inside and outside the church’s walls.
He said he felt privileged to be in Camden, presiding over Masses, weddings, funerals, baptisms and fostering close relationships with many at the Cathedral – which serves both the English and Spanish-speaking communities – and Saint Joseph Church, a parish worship site and home of the Diocese’s Polish Catholic Apostolate.
“The people here are phenomenal. I’ve walked with them – I know where they sat [in the pews], and I know their stories. To be there for them was a great blessing. All these graced moments are ways that the Lord continued to touch my heart,” he said.
Father Fisher, who acknowledges having a great devotion to the Blessed Mother since childhood, said he has been inspired by the community’s diversity. Many have brought to the parish their cultural backgrounds from areas such as Latin America, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Poland – as well as their own Marian traditions.
“To see the Blessed Mother in [devotions such as] Guadalupe, Altagracia, Providencia and Czestochowa has been great,” he said
Spending more than a half-decade in Camden, a city where “so many people live on the margins,” Father Fisher said he has been “lifted up by the faith” of his flock, who continually showed love for their neighbors through acts such as making meals, bagging food items and collecting diapers for young families.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, he was particularly moved by the weekly parish collection envelopes that kept appearing under his door, even when in-person liturgies stopped due to health concerns.
“Their generosity warmed my heart,” he said.
Father Fisher said he leaves Camden with a grateful heart and thanks Bishop Dennis Sullivan for supporting the Oblates’ ministry. The Oblates have a long history in Camden of helping others “encounter Christ in word, sacrament and each other [in order to] create hope and peace for our community and our world,” he said. “[We are] grateful to have the opportunity to serve at the Cathedral these past 14 years, all of them great blessings.”
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