From Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Kearny are, left to right, Father James J. Reilly, Temporary Administrator, Father Patrick Wilhelm, Parochial Vicar, and future Permanent Deacon John Sarnas, with Archbishop John J. Myers, second from left.

We enter. It feels just like a Sunday morning when he opens the church and prepares for that day’s Masses. “Just about here,” Sarnas, a future Permanent Deacon, says while pointing at the last set of pews, “is where I genuflect.”

I look towards the altar of the church he’s called home all his life. There is a statue of the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph and the infant Jesus, and of course, the reason for our existence, our Savior on the cross. My voice echoes as I ask, “When you approach the altar, where do you visit first?”

“Oh, the Blessed Sacrament,” he responds without hesitation. “He’s called me.”

Stewardship lives inside John Sarnas, Kearny’s Town Health Officer since 1974. He and the Holy Spirit are joined hand in hand.

John is a kind and quiet man; a good person. You can feel it when you meet him. When he talks about Jesus and the constant conversion the Lord encourages in his life, a twinkle comes to his eyes. There is an excitement, a hunger for more.

Rev. James J. Reilly, Temporary Administrator at Our Lady of Sorrows, sees it also. “When it comes to stewardship, I can think of no better person who defines the word than John. He epitomizes Time, Talent and Treasure. I’m amazed at how much of his time he shares.”

Father Reilly then offered his perspective on stewardship. “Ideally, every Catholic should be a Stewardship Christian; be fully committed. I look at John, with a fulltime job and family, and he does so much in addition to his regular church duties. Where does he find the time?”

Sarnas indeed does have a full but much desired plate. He got involved first as an usher, became a member of the RCIA team in 1996, then Chairman of Stewardship. And, in addition to being a weekend volunteer sacristan to the parish, he is a member of the Pastoral Council and also teaches 8th grade CCD.

“I was very apprehensive (about teaching) at first. But it’s been very fruitful.”

When speaking about the youth, Sarnas harkens back to his own childhood. He remembers walking through the front doors of Sorrows church when he was eight years old: the day of his dad’s funeral. Grace embraced him that day.

The late Msgr. Dominick Pocus was a great example. “He was a great man, and he’s missed. I first took religious education in 1958, and he inspired me. Then Father Alfred Zemeikis was here when I was President of the Youth Group. He inspired me too. I got a calling there. All the priests I’ve encountered on my journey have been outstanding in character.”

When asked why he decided to get more involved in the life of his parish, he cited the importance of vocations. “You’re blind to a certain point,” says Sarnas. “You need something, and you find it here. There was restlessness for years. I had a good job, a good family too. I was doing well, but things just weren’t going right. There was no sense of satisfaction or completeness. I felt the calling once again and answered.”

Sarnas attended both Newark State (now Kean University) and Cook College at Rutgers, majoring respectively in Secondary Education and Environmental Sciences. He also has a Masters in Health Administration from Jersey City State (now New Jersey City University). “As Kearny’s Health Officer, I deal with a lot of environmental poverty and contamination of properties, many things that can cause cancer. Nowadays, lots of times, there’s a cancer of the soul, a lack of direction. There are more avenues to immorality. You hope you can lead by example.”

Indeed. And Loving God is a great example. Just ask his wife Zofia, whom he met in 1979, while on a trip to Poland to visit family. He smiles when sharing the story. “She was the translator between the others and us. I think she knows that my love for God is even stronger than our marriage.” The couple has two daughters, Magda and Malwina.

Sarnas dreamed of being a priest when growing up, but the Lord’s grace put a hold on that vocation. He now anxiously looks forward to being a Permanent Deacon.

His hero is St. Peter. “I’m stubborn, just like him. Jesus had to work hard on his conversion…too.”

He then reflected about the Church and Stewardship. “We have been handed a rich tradition of faith that has become every Catholic’s duty to steward, to care for and nurture. Mother Teresa is a good example. She didn’t go around asking for help. She got others to follow by doing and following a prayer life that allowed her and her followers to receive the graces of the Holy Spirit. We should all try to do our part.”

He has a wall at home filled with books that contain many memorable passages that he carries with him. I ask him his favorite, and he reflects. “It’s from Fulton Sheen: ‘If you embrace faith and all that goes with it, love will be seen.’ ”

My wish is to conclude the interview outside in the crisp air, and he kindly obliges. I select the garden area, a spot where he often gets his hands dirty while tending to the beauty. It’s snow-covered now, the growth (or rebirth, if you will) a future vision. I tell him I love the outdoors, that I’m as fond of beach dunes and the grasses that hold them intact as he is of the grace that sits in front of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish.

“That’s because God is there. It’s a natural setting.”

He then paused for a moment and said, “I’m always looking for opportunities to hear the Spirit speak to me.”

He added one more helpful hint. “Pray the Rosary. You will be led into what you are called to do. The joy and happiness of God’s grace will be more than you could ever imagine.”

Steven Sears is a parishioner of Holy Family, Nutley and generously volunteered his time and talent to write this article.

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