Father Thomas Cusick marks 50 years as a Catholic priest

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
On Sunday, Father Thomas Howe Cusick celebrated 50 years as a Catholic priest during a Golden Jubilee Eucharistic Liturgy – followed by a big party — at St. Anthony church in Belleville.
Fr. Cusick, 75, is the son of an ophthalmologist, who he called an “excellent doctor,” 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 – 50 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 25 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.
“We’re still paying our bills from that,” Fr. Cusick said Friday, referring to the loans taken out to try to keep the school alive.
He said after the school closed, parents moved their children to schools in other parishes and connected to those churches. The membership at St. Anthony is slightly down now, Fr. Cusick said.
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.
“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.”
As for last week end, parishioners spent a lot of time gathering photographs, decorating the hall, and planning the special meal.
“The gym looks quite good right now,” he said on Friday.
“A Golden Jubilee is not just for one person, but is celebrating everybody, those who worked with you,” he stressed.
He had two brothers. One died in 1991 at the age of 54. His other brother, Chuck, who 22 months younger than Thomas, and Chuck’s wife Nancy came from Bay City to help him celebrate.
Fr. Cusick talked about the changes in Belleville that have occurred over the quarter century he has been in town.
“I can even see the sunset now,” Cusick says of the new view to the west from his bedroom on the second floor of the rectory. The colors he can see now are spectacular, he said.
When the three-story high school was demolished to make way for a more sprawling new high school, he got a more “pleasant view” in the transition.
“It’s the simple things,” he said.