Story by Jennifer Mauro, Associate Editor

Father Michael D. Sullivan was 15 years old when he joined the youth group in St. Dominic Parish, Brick.

“My two older sisters went through the same youth group, and they were doing weeklong summer retreats in Wildwood,” Father Sullivan said with a smile, implying the amusement park hotspot was one of the reasons he joined the group all those years ago.

“I wanted to find a community where I felt welcomed and loved,” he said. He later realized, “What I found there, I wanted to provide to others.”

Now decades later, Father Sullivan, pastor of St. Mary of the Lake, Lakewood, is celebrating 25 years as a priest.

Born March 1962 to Chuck and Barbara Sullivan of New York, N.Y., Father Sullivan grew up in Brick Town, where he attended public schools and graduated from Brick Township High School. He received an associate’s degree from Ocean County College, proceeding to the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1985. He completed his studies for the priesthood in the Theological College of The Catholic University of America, Washington, earning a degree in sacred theology.

He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop John C. Reiss May 18, 1991, in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton.

Father Sullivan said the priesthood gives him a sense of fulfillment. “I constantly feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m able to use the gifts I have in a profound way,” he remarked, adding that he considers teaching to be among those gifts.

And if you were to talk to those in his former parish – St. Martha, Point Pleasant Beach – they would have to agree. He was assigned there June 29, 2001, and appointed pastor April 29, 2003.

Champion of Laity

One of his main missions there was to encourage others to participate in lay ecclesial ministry. “By the time I left, there were eight people who completed or had gone through the program,” Father Sullivan said, referring to the former diocesan Institute for Lay Ecclesial Ministry program.

“The great thing about that, most of them received a degree, which means they could run a ministry without constant supervision,” he added.

After he was ordained as a priest, his first assignment was in St. Mary of the Lake Parish, where he served for one year. In June, 1992, he was named parochial vicar of St. Barnabas Parish, Bayville, where he served for five years. He was then appointed parochial vicar of St. Denis Parish, Manasquan, before returning to St. Barnabas, where he served again as parochial vicar and briefly as temporary administrator in 2000.

During his time at St. Martha Parish, he was also elected chairman of the Priest Council in 2002 and served as an at-large representative to the Council of Priests from 2004 to 2005. Father Sullivan returned to St. Mary of the Lake in 2012 as pastor.

Spiritual Growth

He said that over the years, he has seen his spiritual life change. “I have a deeper understanding of the Gospel of Jesus, which mainly comes from preaching it every week.”

That, in turn, makes the messages he preaches stronger. “I’m able to take the abstract theological and philosophical (concepts) – the academic tradition of the Church – and put it in a way that most people in today’s world can understand.”

And through it all, Father Sullivan has continued to hold youth ministry close to his heart. During his time at St. Barnabas, he started the youth ministry program that is currently in place there.

Though his own parish is seeing a decline in its youth – demographics within his community are changing with the influx of single-family homes and seniors – this hasn’t stopped him from doing everything he can to minister to children and young adults.

For example, during the week of June 27, he celebrated Mass every day with the youth during the parish’s Vacation Bible School.  A few weeks earlier, he was on hand when the parish youth choir joined with children from St. Anthony Claret, Lakewood, to sing the national anthem during a Blue Claws baseball game.

“This is the stage in human development when people start taking charge of their own life and spirituality,” he said. “This (youth ministry) is something they can go to on their own. The Church needs to meet them where they’re at in that stage of development.”