Father Ed Gorny

When we visited Father Ed Gorny in Beaver Dam, Ky., he came in with his shoes shined and his collar on through the blizzard that had blown him home after an evening Mass at Morgantown. His parking lot had been shoveled clean, and everything was in order in the parish hall and classrooms as well as in the small rectory next door to the church.

Father Gorny might be called a generalist. As pastor, he handles Sunday and daily Mass, sermons, administers the sacraments and runs the base parish and two missions. Also he is giving instructions; fixing the plumbing; camping with youth; making radio talks; handling clothing for needy families; supervising a Meals-on-Wheels program or lining up home repair jobs for senior citizens; setting up for the Alcoholics Anonymous group; gathering high school students for religion classes; promoting Family Life, Right-to-Life, Marriage Encounters; or counselling someone in difficulty.

His earlier experience as a landscape worker shows up in the beautiful care given to the grounds of the churches at Beaver Dam, Morgantown and Fordsville. His parish books would be a credit to any accountant, thanks to his training at the University of Detroit.

When he speaks about religion, he speaks with the authority of a master of divinity which he became through studies at St. Meinrad seminary and Scarritt College and with the deep faith which was grounded in a fine Catholic home in Detroit.