Fr. Timothy Boyle: God walks with me

I was ordained in 1974 and served in parishes mostly in Southern Alberta. A notion of service nurtured my calling to the priesthood. I had an uncle who served as a missionary priest for many years. As well, my father and my five siblings pulled together to care for our mother.

​Volunteering at the old Calgary Children’s Hospital gave me additional frontline experience with service. Those were pretty formative experiences. And then I discovered that words have power, and I learned I had some ability to take ideas and give them expression in a way that helped people. The experiences that followed taught me that creation and notably human beings have the divine inscribed in them. God has taken flesh and continues to take flesh in our world.

I have discovered that truth again and again first in my family, in their love and laughter and care for each other. Then, in the good friends I have been blessed to discover along the way. I have slowly come to see that God has always been walking with me on the Emmaus Road, only it wasn’t to Emmaus, but to little places like Cranford, Wrentham, Cowley, Champion, and more recently Gameti, NWT.  

My uncle cautioned me: ‘Tim, never break another persons rice bowl.” Jesus had to tell Peter three times:  feed MY sheep. They are his sheep, not mine, and just like me they have their own weaknesses and often find their own way to divine nourishment. I have often forgotten that truth. I am grateful for all those with whom I have travelled the Emmaus Road. Your friendship and support have made the journey not just memorable but delightful…and always a joy. 

​Gerard Manley Hopkins put this discovery well in his poem: “As Kingfishers Catch Fire”:  “Christ plays in ten thousand places, Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his. To the Father through the features of [their] faces.”

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Written by Fr. Tim Boyle for Faithfully. 

Read more:

• Celebrating Fr. Tim's 50th Anniversary
• Fr. Tim's Holy Week in Gameti, NWT

Fr. Timothy Boyle

• Ordained:  October 12th, 1974, St. Augustine’s, Taber
• Assistant:  St. Augustine’s, Taber (1974-1978)
• On Staff:  Sacred Heart, Calgary (1979-1981)
• Co-Chaplain:  Bishop Carroll High School, Calgary (1979-1981)
• Pastor:  St. Catherine’s, Picture Butte (1981-1986)
• Pastor:  St. Michael’s, Pincher Creek; Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Waterton Lakes (1986-1993)
• Pastor:  Holy Spirit, Calgary (1993-2000)
• Pastor:  St. Patrick’s & Our Lady of the Assumption, Lethbridge (2001-2006)
• Pastor:  St. Basil’s, Lethbridge (2005-2006)
• Pastor:  All Saints, Lethbridge (2006-2012)
• Pastor:  Christ the King, Claresholm; St. Cecilia’s, Nanton; St. Mary’s, Champion (2012-2018)
• Appointment:  Vicar of Clergy & Bishop’s Delegate for Sexual Misconduct