FATHER JUSTIN PINO
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“I felt the call to be involved with history before I felt the call to the priesthood,” says Father Justin Pino, pastor at St. Leo Parish in Ridgway and archivist for the Diocese of Erie. That would have been at a very young age, as he distinctly remembers his call to the priesthood “like a lightning strike” soon after he made his first Communion in second grade.
“I was a nerd,” he admits. “Everyone else was playing baseball outside while I was reading the Encyclopedia Britannica, memorizing the names of presidents in order. But I’ve always believed we can’t understand the present or where we’re going without knowing the past.” When people asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, his reply was, “Father Indiana Jones.”
So it’s clear, even in casual conversation, that Father Pino has a unique ability to paint a colorful picture, to bring the past to life.
He never experienced tension in his dual path.
“It has always been a parallel companionship,” he says. “I have a much better appreciation of the church when I look at life and ministry through the lens of history.”
At one point, he volunteered to teach church history at Venango Catholic High School.
“My students always told me they appreciated hearing our full history,” Father Pino says. “I tried to add a little more color to the portrait. We can celebrate Easter, but we can’t ignore the bloody, terrible experience of Good Friday. History is factual, there’s nothing to hide. It happened.”
That perspective is woven into his preaching as well.
“We can’t pick and choose what we want from Scripture,” he points out. “St. Paul says what he says, inconvenient or not. That is what it means to follow Christ.”
Father Pino is comfortable juggling his assignments and interests.
“At one point, I had two parishes, the archives and I was teaching three classes,” he says. Unique to his situation is that he has to travel just over 200 miles from Oil City to Erie and back one day a week to work in the archives. It has taken him almost 10 years to go through everything, inventorying file by file, page by page, scanning and digitizing.
He loves being able to read through the files of his predecessors whose photos line the wall by his desk.
“Sometimes, with technology, I can finish a piece of work one of them began a century ago,” he says. “It gives me such a spark to be able to complete that.”
With all this enthusiasm about history, it’s easy to forget that this is a one-day-a-week responsibility for Father Pino.
“I’ve always integrated history into my ministry and homilies,” Father Pino says. “St. Leo’s is having its 150th anniversary, so there are doses of history every day. Plus, because of my role at St. Mark Center, I am able to help my people understand the importance of the work that is done in Erie. I’m able to see and witness to the fact that the work of the diocese is done with a pastoral heart.”
He also has learned to rely on his parish staff. “My office manager is a godsend,” he says. “The staff is very patient.”
In a final thought demonstrating how well Father Pino has integrated his responsibilities, he tells the story of attending the rededication of St. Peter Cathedral in Erie when he was 12 years old.
“My mother let me skip school, and when (the Archdiocese of New York’s) John Cardinal O’Connor gave his homily, he said, ‘You are the church. It’s not this building. You are the church.’ I looked at my mom and said, ‘He just reaffirmed what I’ve been thinking. I didn’t know it at the time, but that’s the theology of church. But I did know that was the ministerial priesthood I wanted to emulate. And you know, that’s what the archives are. Each page, each photograph is the church. It is the living memory of how people shared their love of Jesus Christ. That’s why I have to preserve it. We can’t lose that.”
- Story and photos by Anne-Marie Welsh
Return to Archives page
“I felt the call to be involved with history before I felt the call to the priesthood,” says Father Justin Pino, pastor at St. Leo Parish in Ridgway and archivist for the Diocese of Erie. That would have been at a very young age, as he distinctly remembers his call to the priesthood “like a lightning strike” soon after he made his first Communion in second grade.
“I was a nerd,” he admits. “Everyone else was playing baseball outside while I was reading the Encyclopedia Britannica, memorizing the names of presidents in order. But I’ve always believed we can’t understand the present or where we’re going without knowing the past.” When people asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, his reply was, “Father Indiana Jones.”
So it’s clear, even in casual conversation, that Father Pino has a unique ability to paint a colorful picture, to bring the past to life.He never experienced tension in his dual path.
“It has always been a parallel companionship,” he says. “I have a much better appreciation of the church when I look at life and ministry through the lens of history.”
At one point, he volunteered to teach church history at Venango Catholic High School.
“My students always told me they appreciated hearing our full history,” Father Pino says. “I tried to add a little more color to the portrait. We can celebrate Easter, but we can’t ignore the bloody, terrible experience of Good Friday. History is factual, there’s nothing to hide. It happened.”
That perspective is woven into his preaching as well.
“We can’t pick and choose what we want from Scripture,” he points out. “St. Paul says what he says, inconvenient or not. That is what it means to follow Christ.”
Father Pino is comfortable juggling his assignments and interests.
“At one point, I had two parishes, the archives and I was teaching three classes,” he says. Unique to his situation is that he has to travel just over 200 miles from Oil City to Erie and back one day a week to work in the archives. It has taken him almost 10 years to go through everything, inventorying file by file, page by page, scanning and digitizing.
He loves being able to read through the files of his predecessors whose photos line the wall by his desk.
“Sometimes, with technology, I can finish a piece of work one of them began a century ago,” he says. “It gives me such a spark to be able to complete that.”
With all this enthusiasm about history, it’s easy to forget that this is a one-day-a-week responsibility for Father Pino.
“I’ve always integrated history into my ministry and homilies,” Father Pino says. “St. Leo’s is having its 150th anniversary, so there are doses of history every day. Plus, because of my role at St. Mark Center, I am able to help my people understand the importance of the work that is done in Erie. I’m able to see and witness to the fact that the work of the diocese is done with a pastoral heart.”
He also has learned to rely on his parish staff. “My office manager is a godsend,” he says. “The staff is very patient.”
In a final thought demonstrating how well Father Pino has integrated his responsibilities, he tells the story of attending the rededication of St. Peter Cathedral in Erie when he was 12 years old.
“My mother let me skip school, and when (the Archdiocese of New York’s) John Cardinal O’Connor gave his homily, he said, ‘You are the church. It’s not this building. You are the church.’ I looked at my mom and said, ‘He just reaffirmed what I’ve been thinking. I didn’t know it at the time, but that’s the theology of church. But I did know that was the ministerial priesthood I wanted to emulate. And you know, that’s what the archives are. Each page, each photograph is the church. It is the living memory of how people shared their love of Jesus Christ. That’s why I have to preserve it. We can’t lose that.”
- Story and photos by Anne-Marie Welsh