By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami

MIAMI | A priest by day, a crooner at night, a charmer 24/7. Msgr. James Reynolds — known for his trademark line, “Baby, baby” — never made it in show business, but he never lacked for a joke or a song to entertain his parishioners. In doing so, he hoped to bring them closer to each other, and ultimately to God.

“I always admired entertainers,” the priest told the Florida Catholic in 2005. “They can get before an audience and touch the hearts and minds of people of all faiths and all races.”

Through nearly 72 years of priesthood, that’s exactly what Msgr. Reynolds strived to do. Whether it meant creating a Hello Dolly Club for divorced parishioners in the 1970s or founding a private supper club called Henry’s Hideaway in the 1980s, the Brooklyn-born priest valued building community above all.

“Father Reynolds is convinced that a parish is not just a community — it’s more than that — it’s a family that should pray, work and recreate together. Everyone, without distinction of race or social standing, is part of the family of St. James,” read a profile written in the 1970s for Miami’s archdiocesan newspaper, then called The Voice.

Msgr. Reynolds, who served as pastor of St. James in North Miami from 1974 to 1980, and St. Henry in Pompano Beach from 1980 until his retirement in 2005, died Feb. 28, 2022 in Laguna Niguel, California, where he had moved to be with family.

 

TUXEDO-CLAD EMCEE

Although he served in many capacities during his nearly 40 years of active ministry in the Archdiocese of Miami, Msgr. Reynolds might best be remembered as the tuxedo-clad, singing and joke-telling emcee of Henry’s Hideaway, the private club he founded at St. Henry — with the permission of Miami’s second archbishop, Edward McCarthy.

It earned him several monikers in a 1997 profile in City Link, a weekly news and entertainment publication for Broward and Palm Beach counties: Mr. Saturday Night, “lord of the lounge lizards,” Father Daddy-O and “the swingin’est cat ever to run a nightclub or don a priest’s robe.”

Msgr. Reynolds described Henry’s Hideaway as “a pastoral experiment to create community” among parishioners he described as “chronologically gifted.”

Founded in 1984 and housed in St. Henry’s parish hall, the “very wholesome, high class, elegant establishment” at one point had nearly 1,000 members, held a liquor license and booked 28 Big Band, Las Vegas and Broadway-style acts each winter, when retirees and snowbirds flocked to South Florida.

 

ATTRACTING PEOPLE

“He knew how to attract people with jokes and songs. He knew what shows would draw people and invited the proper entertainers,” said St. Henry’s current pastor, Spiritan Father Francis Akwue. He succeeded Msgr. Reynolds as pastor after serving as his parochial vicar there since 1998.

The entertainment followed the 4 p.m. Mass on Saturdays, Father Akwue recalled. “Therefore, many moved from the church to the hall to sing and win prizes before the show began. Being a great singer and entertainer, he sang through the crowd before mounting the stage to introduce the ‘professionals.’ The entertainments pulled crowds and community.”

Unfortunately, “when Monsignor retired in 2005, since neither I nor any other person could put on his dancing shoes, the shows suffered a setback,” Father Akwue said.

Born Jan. 18, 1925 in Brooklyn, New York, Msgr. Reynolds was one of two children born to first-generation Irish immigrants. He said he was attracted to the priesthood “by the joy that priests seemingly possessed.” But the clincher was seeing Bing Crosby in the classic movie “Going My Way,” along with his work as a tour guide, one of several jobs he held before becoming a priest.

 

TRAVELER

“In leading people to exciting locations on earth, I thought I might be able someday to escort people to heaven and manage perhaps to get in through a side door myself,” he said.

It was a sideline he continued after ordination, leading annual parish trips to Las Vegas, Hawaii or Europe. He also loved “to sail away as a chaplain on cruise ships” twice a year, a hobby that earned him another moniker: “gangplank Jim.”

Ordained to the priesthood June 3, 1950 for the Diocese of Brooklyn, he earned master’s degrees in psychological counseling and religious education. In 1966, he came to Miami on the advice of doctors who said the climate here would alleviate his bouts with pleurisy. He was incardinated — becoming a priest of the Miami archdiocese — in 1970 and named a monsignor in 1997.

Prior to serving as pastor of St. Henry and St. James, he served as parochial vicar at Holy Rosary in Perrine (now Holy Rosary-St. Richard in Palmetto Bay), Annunciation in West Park and Nativity in Hollywood; and administrator of Holy Spirit in Lantana, now part of the Palm Beach diocese. He also served as spiritual director at Madonna Academy in West Park (1967-70), with the Catholic Service Bureau (now Catholic Charities, 1970-71), and as director of the Family Life (1975-77) and Respect Life offices (1975-78).

Other assignments included serving as spiritual moderator for the North Dade and North Broward districts of the Miami Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women and as chaplain of Knights of Columbus councils in Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale.

After retirement, Msgr. Reynolds “joined the flock of snowbirds who come in winter and leave in spring,” Father Akwue said. “He kept in touch with me and parishioners.”

As age got the better of him, he moved to California but remained in touch with Father Akwue. “When his health declined (a few days ago) his niece called and gave me the information.”

Msgr. Reynolds’ funeral Mass will take place Friday, March 11, at St. Henry, 1500 S. Andrews Ave., Pompano Beach. The viewing will begin at 9:30 a.m., followed by the Mass at 10:30 a.m. and burial at Forest Lawn Cemetery, 200 West Copans Road.

He is survived by nieces and nephews in New York, New Jersey and California.

This article has been corrected. The original article incorrectly referred to the Brooklyn Diocese as an archdiocese.