Fr. Ballien leaves to take over archdiocesan parish on Grand Cayman
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published June 29, 2007
Eastpointe — Fr. Paul Ballien says he didn't have to think long about his answer when he was asked if he wanted to take on the Archdiocese of Detroit's Caribbean island outpost as his next pastorate.
"I was in India visiting the Missionaries of Charity when Msgr. (John) Zenz called me back in March and asked me if I was interested," recalls Fr. Ballien, who has been pastor of St. Basil the Great Parish in Eastpointe the past two years.
"I had to think about it a couple of seconds, but only a couple of seconds," he says of the day he agreed to leave Detroit's winters behind and spend the next five years in a tropical clime.
"In winter, they're in the low 80s; in summer, they're in the upper 80s," Fr. Ballien, 37, says of the temperatures where he was heading. His plans were to depart June 27 for George Town, Grand Cayman Island, where he would become pastor of St. Ignatius Parish.
"I'm looking forward to missing winter," he says, noting that he enjoys golfing and several other outdoor sports.
"But I'm also looking just to having a really different experience, kind of an adventure — something totally different from what you'd experience here in Detroit," Fr. Ballien adds.
The 850-family parish has a K-12 school, with 650 students, and as pastor he also has responsibility for two smaller worshipping communities. One of those is Christ the Redeemer Chapel in the northwestern part of Grand Cayman Island, while the other is on Cayman Brac, an island about 90 miles northeast of Grand Cayman.
"Either the pastor or the associate pastor, a Pallottine priest from India, has to fly out there once a month to celebrate Mass for them. They're meeting in a garage right now, but they want to build a church, and I hope to see that accomplished while I'm there," Fr. Ballien says.
Grand Cayman does get hit by a hurricane every 10 or 15 years, but having just experienced Hurricane Ivan in 2004, it's not likely to be hit by another anytime soon.
Fr. Ballien succeeds Fr. Michael Molnar, the first priest of the Detroit Archdiocese to pastor the parish.
"Fr. Molnar did a great job of mobilizing the parishioners to clean up and rebuild the place (after the hurricane). When it came to the cleanup, he grabbed a shovel and actively helped," Fr. Ballien says.
Msgr. Zenz, who heads the archdiocesan Assignment Board in his role as moderator of the Curia, says Fr. Ballien is a good fit for St. Ignatius Parish because of his desire to do missionary work.
"The assignment to the Cayman Islands is truly missionary work, and I emphasize 'work.' The person going to the Cayman Islands is not at all in a setting of resort luxury, but rather has the challenge of proclaiming the Good News and offering pastoral services to the full-time residents of the islands as well as the occasional visitors," Msgr. Zenz says.
He praises Fr. Molnar's generosity in volunteering for the assignment six years ago. "He had many challenges, but he had organizational skills and good common sense that helped him build up a nice community of faith," Msgr. Zenz says
And he adds that Fr. Molnar "is especially to be commended for helping the parish to rebuild after the devastating hurricane."
Although it lies about 480 miles south of Miami in the Caribbean Sea, St. Ignatius has been a parish of the Archdiocese of Detroit since Cardinal Adam Maida agreed to take pastoral responsibility for it in 2000 at the request of Pope John Paul II.
It is considered part of the archdiocese's Central Region, and Auxiliary Bishop John Quinn is scheduled to make a pastoral visit the first weekend of December.
Members of St. Basil the Great Parish said good-bye to Fr. Ballien at a barbecue after Mass last Sunday.
Fr. Ballien says he will take with him good memories of his time at the Eastpointe parish. "The people of St. Basil are very warm, friendly and very supportive of their priest," he says.
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