Lyndora church archpriest continues preaching past retirement age
There are a number of firsts in Douglas Lorance’s life, but retirement is not one of them.
Lorance was the first priest ordained in the eparchy of Parma, Ohio, the first to stay at St. Michael The Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church for more than 12 years and the first in the church to continue preaching past age 75, the church’s retirement age for priests.
According to Lorance, the reason he keeps working, even at 77 years old, is because he considers himself a vessel for Jesus, a mindset he said has given him wisdom and peace.
He said his age has led him to becoming a better priest, too, because he understands what people younger than him might be struggling with.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve enjoyed the priesthood even more so because wisdom is so focal. It’s so important in our lives,” said Lorance, the archpriest of the eparchy of Parma, Ohio.
An eparchy is the Ukrainian Catholic Church’s version of a diocese.
“There is a certain kindness that comes over you, you begin to understand people younger than you and what they’re going through because you have, and you understand the old people because you're one of them.”
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church traces its wider origin to the Constantinopolitan tradition. The Church of Kyiv united with Rome. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, is one of the Eastern Churches belonging to the “Greek” or “Byzantine” family of churches, according to the church’s website.
While the retirement age for priests in the church is 75, Lorance said part of the reason he has been allowed to continue is because he recently faced illness that took him away from the church for a while. He said the bishop of the eparchy, Bohdan Danylo, let him stay as long as he wants. He credits his faith with getting him through his illness.
“God has been good to me … the important thing is what God wants me to do at this time and has granted me my health,” Lorance said.
Lorance said St. Michael is one of 43 parishes and missions in the Parma eparchy, which covers part of Pennsylvania, Ohio and each of the eastward states between Florida and Mississippi. Since he was first ordained as a priest of the church in 1984, Lorance has headed parishes in Parma, Ohio; Toledo, Ohio; Houston, Texas, where he is from; and Jeanette and Wilmerding in Pennsylvania. He started at the Butler church in 1997.
Lorance explained that Ukrainian Greek churches perform their liturgies in English, but he had to learn Ukrainian in the monastery before he could be ordained. He retains the language, even though only a few members of his parish still speak it. He said the services are somewhat similar to that of other Catholic Churches.
“There’s Orthodox and there’s Catholic,” Lorance said, “We are the Catholic, because we accept the Holy Father and we accept the doctrine.”
Lorance said St. Michael is made up of about 70 people who regularly attend services. The parish actually grew in 2020, when COVID-19 forced many church services to go online while the Ukrainian Greek churches stayed open, on order of the eparchy bishop.
According to Lorance, the bishop urged the church staff to clean the entire building after each service and to keep people in attendance separated from one another while in the church.
He also said parishioners have taken notice of his dedication to the liturgies, with funeral services being Lorance’s forte.
“Someone said, ‘Father, you seem to put your heart and soul into the funerals, into the liturgy,’” Lorance said. “Because the funerals, I remind myself that I would want someone to say something wonderful about myself and my relationship with Jesus Christ when I die.”
On Monday, Dec. 22, the church had its mangers on display, which depict Christmas manger scenes from cultures around the world.
The mangers belong to the Relic Crusade, an organization that rescues, restores and preserves Catholic relics from churches in war-torn countries and from storage lockers where their significance is forgotten. It also restores Catholic art and donates to churches in need.
And St. Michael the Archangel has many of these relics under its roof.
They include what are believed to be pieces of saint’s bodies or tokens they touched or used. They are kept in glass cases in the back of the church.
The church has relics for St. Pious the V, St. Pious X, St. Leonard of Port Paurice, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Ephrem the Syrian, St. Frances Cabrini and St. Nicholas. The church also keeps a piece of Mother Teresa’s hair.
“All the relics here have to have certification, documentation — and they do. We do not accept them if they don't,” Lorance said. “When you open the back, there should be a red seal that tells you it had been sealed by a special group of nuns in Rome that put these relics together and documentation from the 17th and 18th centuries.”
David Rehm, a hermit at St. Michael The Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church, oversees the Relic Crusade and the manger scene mission. He said each aims to educate visitors about the stories behind the stories and give people a concrete look at religious artifacts.
Lorance said Rehm has been a great supporter of his church, and his own priesthood as well.
“I’ve never had a brother, but we adopted each other,” Lorance said. “He is always here, a faithful servant.”
Rehm said Lorance has been a great faith leader in Butler because he takes the time to get to know as many people as he can.
“I told him, ‘If Butler had a governor, you’d win,’” he said. “He would go to hospice and preach to them there.”
