June 27, 2008

Father Buchignani’s retirement opens new phase of his priesthood

Andy Telli, Tennessee Register

LAWRENCEBURG. Father Richard Buchignani sits in his office at Sacred Heart Church in Lawrenceburg with stacks of paper on his desk and boxes piling up on the floor. He’s been going through all the files and paperwork he’s accumulated over the last two decades as pastor.

“When you’re here 24 years, as I have been, it’s all over the place,” he said. “St. Francis of Assisi had it right from the beginning. All you really need is your garb.”

After 46 years as a priest, Father Buchignani will move into retirement on July 1. He won’t be going far, deciding to stay in Lawrenceburg, where he has been leading one of the Diocese of Nashville’s oldest parishes since 1984.

“I have all my connections here,” he said. “I know the people and the people know me.”

Father Buchignani grew up in Memphis where his family attended Mass at St. Peter Church, which has long been led by Dominican priests. After he graduated from Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, Father Buchignani left home to join the Dominican order. He started his studies at St. Mary’s Seminary in Kentucky, but after a few years switched to become a seminarian for the Diocese of Nashville, which then included all of Tennessee.

After completing his studies in Kentucky, he moved on to another St. Mary’s Seminary, this one in Baltimore, Md. It was there that he first began to feel the undercurrents of change that would later sweep through the Church in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, Father Buchignani said.

He was ordained by Bishop William Adrian in 1962 and spent the first years of his priesthood serving in Memphis. In 1967, he moved to Rome to study canon law at the North American College.

“I got more out of being there and watching than I got out of the classroom,” Father Buchignani said of his time in Rome. He got to meet people and see first hand the inner structure of the Church and how it operated. Studying in Rome also gives a person a sense of the universality of the Church, Father Buchignani said.

“It opens you up to be more helpful to your people,” he said of the experience. “I just wish I could have had a longer time there.”

He returned to Nashville in 1969 and began working as an assistant chancellor for the diocese and with the diocesan tribunal, working on marriage annulment cases. He eventually was named officialis of the tribunal, a post now called the judicial vicar.

“It’s a heartbreaking job if you take it seriously,” Father Buchignani said of his work with the tribunal. “It’s a necessary job, people have a right to know where they stand with the church. But you’re dealing with broken lives.”

While working in the chancery, he served first as assistant pastor and later as pastor of St. Mary’s Church in downtown Nashville. At the time, the chancery was located next door.

“I enjoyed it,” Father Buchignani said of his years at St. Mary’s, where he met all kinds of people. “It’s really interesting the variety of human beings God has created.”

From there, Father Buchignani moved to yet another St. Mary’s, this one in Oak Ridge, where he served as pastor for three years. His next stop was Lawrenceburg.

He has a seen the parish’s leadership pass to a new generation during his time at Sacred Heart. “The face of the parish today is their children’s,” Father Buchignani said of the parish leaders when he arrived. “The ones I baptized then, I’m marrying today.”

“We have a nucleus of very, very serious people who love their faith,” Father Buchignani said of his parishioners at Sacred Heart. “I find them to be a good people.”

The love of their faith is seen in their prayer life, their response to those in need, and their regular attendance at Mass and active participation in the liturgy.

It is the liturgy that has been the foundation of Father Buchignani’s priesthood.

“The Eucharist is what we’re all about. Without it I don’t think we have any identity as a church,” he said.

“As often as I say Mass, it’s always something new,” he added. “I never get tired of it. It has its own way of speaking to you.”

His role in the Eucharist as a priest is to invite people to pray, Father Buchignani said. “They liturgy gives us an opportunity to be together in what we’re doing.”

During his years as pastor at Sacred Heart, Father Buchignani has worked hard to support the parish school. “I’m very strong on the value of Catholic education,” he said.

A Catholic school offers the best opportunity to form the faith of children, Father Buchignani said. “The Church has a constant presence in the school, which the children can absorb.”

“Our kids need to know what they are religiously,” Father Buchignani said. “It’s amazing how these things can come back at a time in life when they need something rock solid to fall back on.”

He and the parish have worked hard to keep tuition at Sacred Heart School affordable and to maintain enrollment. When he arrived, tuition at the school was $100 a year. The amount has risen over the years and now is about $1,500 a year for one student and a family with two or more students in the school pays about $2,800 a year. Both are far below the typical tuition for schools in the diocese.

Last year, the school started a pre-kindergarten program, which is helping to boost the number of students, he said. He expects enrollment to increase from about 55 last year to more than 60 in the fall.

“I’ve put a lot of energy in this school, at least 60 percent of my priesthood here,” Father Buchignani said.

Even though he is retiring, Father Buchignani expects to remain busy, particularly helping celebrate Masses at nearby parishes. His fellow pastors can benefit from having someone to relieve them on occasion so they can take some time to themselves, he said.

“I’m going to enjoy this,” Father Buchignani said of his retirement. “I don’t intend to be static. … I see it as another phase of my priesthood.”

Photo by Andy Telli

Father Richard Buchignani will retire on July 1. He has been pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Lawrenceburg for 24 years. The Memphis native was ordained by Bishop William Adrian in May 1962.