Father Tom Cusick to retire from St. Anthony Catholic Church

After almost 29 years leading St. Anthony Catholic Church in Belleville, Father Thomas Cusick, 78, is retiring at the end of August.
A new priest is expected to be in charge on Sept. 1.
Father Cusick said he will be moving to Clergy Village in Livonia, in the area of Madonna College and St. Mary’s Hospital. He said at the village the priests become supply persons, so when a priest is needed to fill in, he can.
“We’ll see” what happens next, he said.
In June 2014, Fr. Cusick celebrated 50 years as a Catholic priest with a festive Golden Jubilee.
He is the son of an ophthalmologist and he would have become a doctor himself, if he hadn’t headed into the priesthood
He decided to go to seminary during his years at University of Detroit High School where he saw the example of the priests there. It wasn’t a dramatic “calling,” but each year his decision felt more and more right.
Fr. Cusick said in 1964 – 53 years ago — after eight years in seminary, he was ordained and assigned as an associate to Epiphany Parish in Detroit, on the west side near Meyers and West Chicago. He stayed there until 1973.
He spent five years as an associate at St. Christopher’s Parish in the Tireman / Southfield area and then went to St. Robert Bellermine for 10 years.
He remembers it was noon on Sept. 6, 1988 that he arrived at St. Anthony church in Belleville, where he has been for more than 28 years.
In those days, the church’s school was going well, with about 240 children enrolled. It was started in the early 1950s, but had to be closed in 2005.
He said after the school closed, parents moved their children to schools in other parishes and connected to those churches.
He said the parish has a lot of dedicated people who help the sick and homebound, which is common to all parishes. The Men’s Club is very active, as is the Boy Scout troop, and the funeral luncheons put on by the women are delicious.
“Volunteers do a great job,” he said.
The Strawberry Festival was started by St. Anthony and strawberry farmers and the event over Father’s Day week end is a big project for church volunteers.
Fr. Cusick said he likes to go out to the beer tent during the festival, to walk around and, “Be alive.” He said he gets into faith conversations even when the talking starts out to be about something else.
He gave credit to the dedicated catechists who teach the faith and the sisters who help. He singles out Deacon Pete as “so dedicated to God, so good.”
In the past, Fr. Cusick liked to go biking and walking, but now he does a lot of reading. At age 70 priests have the opportunity to retire, but Fr. Cusick chose not to retire until now.
“I love sharing the Lord and that’s everything,” he said.
With the American culture becoming more secularized, Fr. Cusick said, “The church has to stick to it.”
He had two brothers. One died in 1991 at the age of 54. His other brother, Chuck, who is 22 months younger than Thomas, lives in Bay City.