Father Patrick Shortt, 76, priest from Ireland, longtime pastor, laid to rest in Mary’s Home

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“Who will plow the fields now? Who will sow the corn? Who will mind the horses now and keep them neatly shorn? The stack that’s in the hay cart, unthreshed it may remain, since Fr. Pat has left us for heaven’s lofty plain.”

Father Patrick J. Shortt’s brother, Seamus, eulogized the man who had been “the rock around which our family revolved” before he pursued priestly orders and began ministering thousands of miles away from the place of his birth.

“Nothing gave Fr. Pat greater satisfaction than to harvest souls for the Lord,” the younger brother noted.

Fr. Shortt, 76, recently retired pastor of Our Lady of the Snows parish in Mary’s Home, died on Dec. 21 in a Columbia hospital after months of battling with an infection.

The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Jan. 9 in Our Lady of the Snows Church, with Bishop Emeritus John R. Gaydos presiding, many priests of the diocese concelebrating and Deacon David Ream of Mary Immaculate parish in Kirksville preaching the homily.

Burial was in Our Lady of the Snows Cemetery.

A priest for 51 years, Fr. Shortt was part of a wave of Irish missionaries who came to the Jefferson City diocese in the 1960s and early ’70s.

Friends remember him as a hard worker and zealous evangelizer, ever-eager to welcome one more soul into the Church.

“He was truly an image of Christ to many people,” said Deacon Steve Schwartze of the Mary’s Home parish.

“He served the people,” said Father John Groner, a longtime friend. “He used the rules and precepts of the Church for the good of the people. He wanted them to know how good God is and how much love and concern He has for them.”

A priest’s priest

Since ordination, Fr. Shortt served as associate pastor of the former Blessed Sacrament parish in Hannibal, St. Clement in St. Clement and St. Peter in Jefferson City; a teacher and spiritual formation director at the former St. Thomas Seminary in Hannibal; pastor of Queen of Peace in Ewing, Cathedral of St. Joseph in Jefferson City, St. Michael in Russellville, St. Pius X in Moberly, Mary Immaculate in Kirksville and St. Rose of Lima in Novinger, and in Mary’s Home since 2008.

“Celebrating the Eucharist was central to his life,” Deacon Ream said during the Funeral Mass. “This is where Fr. Pat was truly himself.”

“From the mind and the heart, he was truly a ‘priest’s priest,’ one who by his example inspired other priests,” said Father Patrick Dolan, a longtime friend and fellow Ireland native.

Fr. Shortt was born on May 1, 1941, in Camber, Co. Leitrim, the oldest of five children of the late Peter and Margaret (O’Hagen) Shortt.

He discerned his priestly calling at a time when Ireland had thousands of priests to spare.

While studying at St. John’s College Seminary in Waterford, he accepted an invitation from Bishop Joseph M. Marling C.PP.S., founding bishop of Jefferson City, to serve in the United States.

Bishop Michael Russell of Waterford and Lismore ordained him to the Holy Priesthood on June 12, 1966, in the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity in Waterford.

Fr. Shortt arrived in Jefferson City two months later.

Cheerful giver

Deacon Ray Purvis, diocesan coordinator for deacon formation, estimated that Fr. Shortt had offered more than 26,000 Masses.

He was also committed to evangelization through various spiritual renewal movements in the Church, serving for 22 years as diocesan spiritual director for the Cursillo movement.

He was involved in the Catholic Youth Organization SEARCH for Maturity, Teens Encounter Christ, Residents Encounter Christ for men and women in prison, Marriage Encounter, Engaged Encounter and Pre-Cana.

“I know a lot of people who said he brought them back into the Church,” said Millie Aulbur of Immaculate Conception parish in Jefferson City, who worked closely with him in Cursillo.

He liked to emphasize that God’s love isn’t like a box of candy for people to keep for themselves.

“For him, it was always about sharing,” she said.

He felt the love of God very strongly and wanted other people to have that, too.

“He was committed to opening people’s eyes,” said Mrs. Aulbur.

“He was a relationship person,” said Therese Ream of Mary Immaculate parish in Kirksville. “All of us loved him because of the relationships he called us into.”

Father Gregory Oligschlaeger, diocesan vocations director and temporary administrator of the Mary’s Home parish, knew Fr. Shortt as a high school seminary teacher and then as pastor of his home parish.

“I began to see in him the kind of priest I wanted to be,” said Fr. Oligschlaeger. “He really helped me to see that Priesthood could be for me.”

Fr. Groner, pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine parish in St. Robert and St. Jude parish in Richland, said Fr. Shortt understood the importance of meeting people where they are and focusing on what brings people together.

“And whenever there was something to do, he always pitched in and did more than his share of it,” said Fr. Groner. “He was determined to keep working, to keep serving the people, until he no longer could. And that’s exactly what he did.”

Fr. Shortt then turned his suffering into Christian witness, offering it up with a cheerful attitude.

“He never complained,” said Fr. Groner.

A great uniter

Father Dave Maher said he is a better priest because of his friendship with Fr. Shortt.

A consummate diplomat with a penchant for reconciliation, Fr. Shortt saw every new assignment as a chance to lead more people to Christ.

“I don’t think there was an ounce of fear in him,” said Fr. Maher, who is retired and living in Westphalia.

“He was all about ‘just do it!’ before Nike ever thought of it,” said Fr. Oligschlaeger.

He consistently promoted healing and unity.

“He never lost his ability to reconcile and support the people around him, even in grave illness, even if he was doing it in a hospital bed,” said Fr. Oligschlaeger.

First of many

“Fr. Pat will always have a place in my heart,” said Roxanne Schulte, secretary at the Mary’s Home parish. “He was a great friend, mentor and spiritual leader.”

Melvin and Ruth Marie Korte met Fr. Shortt when he was associate pastor of St. Clement parish in St. Clement.

He helped them prepare for marriage, presided at their wedding and baptized each of their children.

While Mr. Korte was serving in the Army, Mrs. Korte met with Fr. Shortt to ask questions about what the Church teaches.

She decided to become Catholic after Mr. Korte returned from the service. She later found out that she was Fr. Shortt’s first “convert.”

“Fr. Pat has touched several lives and will be remembered by many as sharing the love of God,” said Mrs. Korte. “I can still see his smile, hear his jolly laugh and feel his bear hug.”

Sacramental joy

Lynn Carter, a member of Mary Immaculate parish in Kirksville, said Fr. Shortt believed in celebrating the sacraments memorably.

“When he received me into the Church and celebrated my confirmation, his hands were very heavy on my head, so I wouldn’t forget!” she said. “And he used so much Chrism that I could smell the Holy Spirit for days — in my hair, on the steering wheel of my car and on my pillow.”

Mary’s Home parishioner Chuck Berendzen said Fr. Shortt preached excellent homilies, knew the Bible well and used great stories to draw people into his lessons.

“You could always tell he was a teacher,” he said.

When Fr. Shortt found out that Mr. Berendzen is a Cursillista, they began meeting in the rectory after Mass each Tuesday to plan their prayer, study and evangelization for the week.

Mary’s Home parishioner Kevin Richards was always impressed at how much joy Fr. Shortt received and gave to others in his sacramental ministry.

“Anyone who attended a baptism or Easter Vigil celebrated by Fr. Pat enjoyed a very special and blessed event,” he said.

Fr. Shortt kept encouraging Mr. Richards to get involved in Cursillo.

Scheduling kept Mr. Richards from attending a Cursillo weekend until February 2017. Fr. Shortt was the spiritual director. It turned out to be his last Cursillo.

Mr. Richards visited Fr. Shortt in the hospital a couple of days before he died.

One of the last things the priest said to him was, “De Colores!” — the Cursillo motto.

Always hopeful

Deacon Ream urged everyone at the funeral to find ways to carry Fr. Shortt’s memory forward.

“Each of us should think about whatever it was about Fr. Pat that endeared him most to us, and then strive to live that in our own lives — to make sure that part of Fr. Pat is still present in the world today,” he said.

For Deacon Ream, that trait was Fr. Shortt’s faith-infused optimism.

“No matter what the situation was, he was always hopeful,” the deacon said. “His approach was, ‘How can we address this issue? Who can I call on to help me?’ — and then we do our best and leave the rest to God.”

Asked and answered

Right before his 50th anniversary in 2016, Fr. Shortt noted that a priest is ordained to help make people’s road to salvation friendly and joyful.

“As a priest, your No. 1 challenge and call is to be friendly to people on behalf of the Church and on behalf of Jesus,” he said.

He pointed out during a 2013 Cursillo day of recollection that conversion is not a once-in-a-lifetime decision but an ongoing, lifelong process.

“Each experience of moral conversion prompts us to turn more and more toward God, because each conversion experience reveals God in a new, brighter light,” he said.

For Fr. Shortt, following Christ always meant saying “yes” to the unexpected.

“If the Lord wants you to do something, He’s going to give you the courage and whatever else you need to do it,” he said.

Fr. Shortt was not afraid to die.

“We often fall silent before the mystery of death,” he wrote in 2007. “But ours is a silence born of peace and hope, because all of our questions about death and life have been asked and answered in the person and mission of Jesus.

“Death is no longer the last word but is the beginning of a new and exciting conversation that will never end,” the priest wrote.

Surviving are his brother, Seamus; and three sisters, Kathleen Walsh, Eileen Newman and Anne Rodgers.

A video of the Funeral Mass can be found on the diocesan YouTube channel. Go to www.diojeffcity.org, click on the red YouTube logo in the upper-right corner of the page, and scroll down to the video.

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