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September 2013
LIFE
&
TIMES
13
12
LIFE
&
TIMES
September 2013
COVER
STORY
Farrell’s unstoppable
Father Donald Berdis
toils lovingly from dawn to dusk fulfilling the
never-ending needs of a small-town parish
Story and photography by
Tom Davidson
T
HE PHONE WAS RINGING OFF
the hook at
Our Lady of Fatima-St. Ann’s rectory in
Farrell.
Secretary Barb Hufnagel said it was a typical
Monday, if there is such a thing in the
business of a church where matters of life and
death are broached every day. But it was typi-
cal for Fatima, as the faithful and familiar cur-
rent and former residents of Farrell call the
church.
“He never sits down,” Hufnagel said of the
Rev. Donald E. Berdis, who’s spent 33 years
shepherding the church, and who recently
marked 50 years as a priest.
“We’d like to keep him forever,” she said.
“Father,” as everyone calls the 76-year-old Berdis, was
out at the moment, showing the closed Monsignor Monti
school to a prospective buyer.
He walked in after Hufnagel handled several more
phone calls, all from people seeking his varied expertise.
Being a priest is more than serving as the spiritual
guide for a group of people, Father Berdis said.
“Every day there’s something that has to be done,” he
said while sipping a glass of iced tea in the kitchen of
the rectory.
He doesn’t look like a priest at this moment, dressed
in work pants and a white T-shirt that sports some of the
spoils of a day spent toiling about the city he’s grown
fond of.
At several points during recent interviews, Father
Berdis was interrupted by phone calls that presented is-
sues he had to deal with immediately.
“This is life; the phone keeps ringing,” he said with a
smile.
In the afternoons, he tries to make home visits and
deal with ever-growing “to do” lists of the parish.
“Every day there’s something that needs to be done,”
he said.
In quiet moments, there’s paperwork to do and volun-
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