By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic

DAVIE | When a associate new priest said his first Mass at St. David Church, “he was so nervous, he was shaking,” a congregant recalled. But he was rescued by a 10-year-old altar server.

“You’ll be OK,” the girl said, touching the priest’s hand. “You're going to like it here.”

She was right. Thereafter, “you never saw him without a smile on his face,” said her grandmother, Dee Griswold.

St. David’s members have likewise touched and welcomed thousands over its 50 years.  They’ve fed and comforted the poor through their community center. They’ve celebrated culture and education through their school.

Each time, they’ve extended a friendly hand.

“They always said hello, how are you?” Griswold said of her first visit to St. David, 47 years ago. “If you sat in a pew, they'd move over for you. You could sit in a table outside, and someone would sit beside you and just start talking to you.”

“I’d never want to be in another church,” she said.

St. David celebrated its half-century with a Mass and reception on June 2, the Feast of Corpus Christi. Archbishop Thomas Wenski reminded listeners that a church is both a “way station” en route to heaven and an “oasis” of faith, hope and love.

“To tell the story of this parish is to tell the story of people who, under the leadership of Father Gabriel O'Reilly and now Father Steven O'Hala, have created an extraordinary community of faith, hope and love,” the archbishop said in his homily.

People then perused murals along a wall, with photo displays of “That Was Then, This is Now.” The photos included families, the building and its two renovations, plus fathers O'Reilly and O'Hala.

 

CULTURE, COMPASSION

St. David began in 1974 with 200 worshipers. They attended Mass on Sunday at a restaurant and on Saturday evenings at an elementary school.  They soon formed the basic lay groups: men's and women’s clubs, a Saint Vincent de Paul Society, and a religious education program for youngsters.

Griswold remembers the early days of dirt roads and cow pastures. Even busy Griffin Road was a mere two-lane street close to a canal. “It had more cows than people,” she said of the town.

But growth was coming: In 1980, St. David dedicated a church home, then refurbished it twice. The building combines an A-frame structure with a cruciform floor plan. A granite altar and porcelain floor tiles complete the design. Parishioners added a social hall in 1982, then a school in 1983.

In one class, students wrapped socks to resemble cupcakes. In another, they dipped their hands in fingerpaints, then pressed them to poster board in the shape of a heart. The gifts were for group homes for seniors.

The carnivals each March and October draw 14,000 people each year. Griswold has made empanadas and funnel cakes at the fair. She has also been a typist, a CCD teacher, a Eucharistic minister and a member of the Columbiettes.

Nor have peoples’ material needs gone unserved. HOPE Outreach Center, launched in 1995 runs a range of services including a food pantry, bus vouchers, emergency rental and utility payments, and aid through Medicaid and other government programs. It also holds a backpack program for needy students in the fall.

St. David members have included two mayors, two town attorneys and three members of the Town Council. Susan Starkey is not only a Town Council member, but she's taught CCD at the church and helped manage the chicken wing booth at the carnival.

“I think a lot of people need a church community right now,” said Town Council member Susan Starkey, who has lived in Davie since 1990. “They need God back in their lives.”

 

COMMANDING PRESENCE

Whenever people talk about St. David Church, they always mention a man who died more than a decade ago: Father Gabriel O'Reilly, its founding pastor.

Father O'Reilly seemed a Hollywood director’s image of a priest: big, friendly, thick gray hair. He drew attention whenever he showed up, smiling and patting shoulders.

“People gravitated toward him,” said Paulette Vitale, human service director for St. David. “He saw things in people, sometimes before they saw it in themselves.”

He often laced his approach with humor as well. Dee Griswold complained to him about her boss at a paint store. Father O'Reilly’s recommendation: “Pray for God to let a branch from a tree fall on his head.”  That broke the tension and spurred her to pray for the boss – and things improved at work.

Mary Ellen Braznell remembers when her husband, a volunteer maintenance worker at St. David, died in 2005, three days before Hurricane Wilma knocked out power. Father O'Reilly commandeered a generator from the parish carnival, allowing him to hold the funeral.

“He did many nice things that people aren't aware of,” said Braznell, herself a volunteer who has worn many hats at St. David, including president of its St. Vincent De Paul Society, vice president of the women’s club, and a volunteer with HOPE Outreach Center.

But he didn’t shrink from controversy. Just after the 9-11 terrorist attack in 2001, he said in a homily, “Get one thing straight: There are a lot of good Muslim people out there.”

“You could hear a gasp – some people were almost ready to walk out,” Dee Griswold recalled. “Then he said we need to pray for them.”

When Father O'Reilly died suddenly of pancreatic cancer in 2013, he left enormous shoes to fill. His successor was Father Steven O'Hala, administrator at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church. Father O'Hala also taught moral theology at both area seminaries.

How did he find the St. David pastorate? “Intimidating,” Father O'Hala acknowledged. “It was a traumatic time for the parish. So I listened, learned and showed respect.”

 

STRONG HANDSHAKE

Paulette Vitale’s first memories of the new pastor: “He gave the strongest handshake ever. And he came alive whenever he talked about scripture. He often said, ‘It’s all about the Resurrection.’”

Gradually, Father O'Hala launched his own programs like online Bible classes and livestreaming Mass during the COVID pandemic. When in-church Mass was again permitted, he set up overhead screens so people could follow the liturgy without books.

Father O'Hala also encouraged a bereavement ministry. He stepped up lay recruitment, getting families to team up in altar service.  And he made time whenever someone needed to talk.

“My role as a priest is to guide, to invite, to support, to encourage,” he said. “The ministries are most important.”

When Rose Preseau – a recipient of the archdiocesan Jubilaeum Award – died in 2023, he raced after 5 p.m. Mass to her house to comfort her mourners. Mary Ellen Braznell, a fellow Jubilaeum awardee, was startled to see his car in her own mirror.

“Any illness or death, or family issue, he has always been wonderful and attentive,” Braznell said.

St. David now faces another change: Father O'Hala  has been reassigned to St. Mary Cathedral, effective June 17. Taking his place is Father Ryan Saunders, Archbishop Wenski’s priest-secretary.