Fr. Flatley grateful for prayers, support through his cancer treatment
Discusses significance of Christmas Collection to benefit seminarians, infirm priests
CLICK HERE to read a related story
When Father Matthew Flatley hears the bells on Christmas day, the echoes of another, small brass bell will join them in his mind and heart.
Fr. Flatley, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Jefferson City, recently rang the Survivor’s Bell at the SSM Radiology Department at JCMG to celebrate the completion of his exhausting cancer treatments.
“By the grace of God, I have been incredibly blessed in my life with good health and have had very few challenges along those lines,” he recalled this week. “But suffice to say, this episode has been unlike anything I have ever experienced.”
Fr. Flatley spoke in anticipation of the diocese’s special Christmas Collection, which will be taken up in parishes throughout the diocese.
A special envelope for the collection for people to take to church with them on Christmas Day was inserted the Dec. 12 edition of The Catholic Missourian. Contributions can also be made online at diojeffcity.org/donate-christmas.
The annual collection supports seminarians and the diocese’s Infirm Priest Fund.
The fund helps priests pay for medical care not covered by insurance, when their assets are exhausted.
Fr. Flatley’s insurance covered most of the cost of his cancer treatment, so he didn’t need to rely on the Infirm Priest Fund.
But he rests better knowing it’s there if he ever needs it. Just like the prayers of the people he’s been ministering to since his priestly ordination in December of 2012.
Earlier this year, he was diagnosed with cancer after a routine medical procedure found a cancerous polyp.
“It was determined to be Stage 1 … thanks be to God!” he noted.
Three specialists informed him that the cancer was highly treatable and curable.
“I made up my mind to have faith in what they said,” he noted.
It was a very aggressive type of cancer. Even though it was caught early, the treatment had to be equally aggressive.
Fr. Flatley underwent 28 treatments of a combination of radiation and chemotherapy, over a course of 6 weeks.
“The side effects of the treatment were at times quite brutal, and the fatigue was beyond anything I could have imagined,” he said.
He pressed forward, partially out of his self-proclaimed stubbornness but mostly out of love for his parishioners.
“I intended to, and assumed that I would, at least keep up my schedule of presiding at liturgies,” he recalled.
He assured the diocesan administration that he would make this journey one day at a time.
“And then, I hit a wall,” he recalled. “It was like somebody unplugged me.”
Even climbing a flight of stairs felt like a daunting challenge by the 10th day of his treatment.
“That is when the Chancery personnel and some of my fellow priests rushed in to rescue me!” said Fr. Flatley.
Monsignor Robert A. Kurwicki, first as vicar general and then as diocesan administrator and pastor of neighboring St. Peter Parish in Jefferson City; Father Christopher Cordes, diocesan vicar for priests; and Father Stephen Jones, pastor of Cathedral of St. Joseph Parish in Jefferson City, took immediate action to help find substitute priests to cover Fr. Flatley’s Masses at Immaculate Conception.
“They also offered incredible support and tender care and compassion at every turn,” said Fr. Flatley.
Bishop Ralph B O’Donnell was also incredibly kind and supportive, urging Fr. Flatley to take enough time to find the rest he required.
Fr. Flatley joyfully rang the Survivor’s Bell on Nov. 26.
The care and compassion he received from his bishop and fellow priests, coupled with the ceaselessly prayerful concern of the people of this diocese, helped reinforce for Fr. Flatley why he loves being a priest here.
“My friends, it would seem to me that the Infirm Priest Fund is more than just about money!” he declared.
“Of course, what a crucial need those funds provide for,” he stated. “But it’s also a network of care, and a community of brothers who keep an eye on those who need help ... and then, they take action to assist them.”
Last year’s Christmas parish assessment — supported by contributions to the Christmas Special Collection — raised $447,408.
From that total, $200,000 was given to the Infirm Priest Fund, and $247,408 was distributed to the Seminarian Studies Fund.
Fr. Flatley noted that he never previously needed the kind of intervention he received this year, “but I thank God that it found me.”
“It has inspired me, and I am filled with gratitude to be a priest of our beloved diocese!” he said.
Fr. Flatley still has to wait five or six weeks before knowing if he’s free — at last — of cancer.
“So, I’ll still take all the prayers I can get,” he said.
