Nearly 60 years into their priesthoods, Msgr. Donal Mulcahy and Msgr. Charles O'Gorman can laugh at their experiences as young priests, when there was no such thing as internship before ordination and young priests simply went from ordination one day to duties in a parish the next.

Like the day in 1949 that newly-ordained Father O'Gorman was directed by his pastor "to go and hear confessions." Having scarcely gotten settled at Our Lady of Lourdes in Tujunga, the new priest from County Cavan and All Hallows College asked his pastor if there was such a thing as a book on how to do it.

"There is not," he was told, and off he went to hear confessions.

Today, at Santa Clara Chapel alongside the 101 Freeway in Oxnard, Msgr. O'Gorman still hears confessions every Saturday. The retired pastor and senior priest at Santa Clara Church also presides twice a week at the chapel's 8 a.m. Mass (and regularly on Sundays), and spends most days at the chapel until 5 p.m. "I provide a presence here," he says simply.

His good friend and fellow Irishman Msgr. Mulcahy, 84 next January and ordained two years after Msgr. O'Gorman, spends a good amount of time serving at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Ventura, where he is pastor emeritus. That role also finds him serving in pastoral capacities throughout the Deanery 3 (west Ventura County) area --- whether it be visiting the sick in nearby hospitals, celebrating funeral liturgies at Assumption and elsewhere (as needed), or reading to the children in the parish school.

These two men, and other "retired" priests in the Santa Barbara Region (and throughout the Archdiocese of Los Angeles), are more than administerers of sacraments; they are lifesavers in a time when a growing population and a declining priesthood can strain the endurance of the youngest and most energetic priests.

Father Jon Majarucon, Santa Clara's pastor and dean of Deanery 3, is one of a number of pastors who rely on Msgrs. Mulcahy and O'Gorman, and on their elder priest brethren in the area --- among them, Fathers John Fahey and Rock Janowski, Sulpician Father Richard MacDonough and Msgr. John Naughton.

"I often refer to these wonderful priests as my 'bail-out priests' because they have literally 'bailed us out' of trouble when we mess up on a schedule, or when we have an unexpected funeral or vigil service, or when one of my regular priests takes ill," says Father Majarucon.

"The one thing they all have in common is that they love being priests, and if they are called upon to help in a sacramental way they truly are Christ to all they serve. With all due respect to angels, these men are more than angels. They are not merely messengers. They are the unsung Christ-like heroes who just do what they are asked and ask for nothing in return."

'It's something worthwhile - to meet people's spiritual needs'
Certainly, given parishes' needs for priests, few of today's ordained will likely spend 20 years of their priesthoods in the military, as Msgr. O'Gorman did from the late 1950s to the late 1970s, earning a Bronze Star medal for his meritorious service with Marine air units in Vietnam, where he served from 1967-69. That service found him regularly traveling hazardous roads through mines and sniper fire to minister to isolated units.

In 1978, Msgr. O'Gorman was named pastor of Santa Clara. He served for 11 years in that capacity and one year as administrator, then at age 65 was appointed senior priest in 1990. It is a life that "Msgr. Charlie" still enjoys, ministering Monday through Friday at Santa Clara Chapel in Oxnard's northeast sector known as El Rio, three miles north of historic Santa Clara Church in the downtown district.

"Look at him," says Angie Martinez Oretta, chapel secretary and parishioner for 65 years, as he points toward Msgr. O'Gorman getting out of his car outside the chapel's modest office. No sooner, in fact, has he stepped out of the car when someone waiting to see him is at his side.

"He's a wonderful, wonderful priest," continues Oretta. "These people love their church and priests like Msgr. O'Gorman. He makes me part of the decision-making process and the work-day. He wants to hear what we have to offer. And he loves the children, because they are the 'tomorrow' of the church."

"I prefer being here," says Msgr. O'Gorman of serving at the chapel. "I am not an administrator. I am just helping; it fills a need. It's something worthwhile, just as it has been for my whole priestly life - to meet people's spiritual needs. And I also find it rewarding spiritually myself. I find fulfillment in baptisms and confessions." He adds: "I go where I am assigned."

Father Majarucon has known Msgr. O'Gorman since he was 16 years old and a junior at Santa Clara High School. "He has been a source of great stability, encouragement and support," says the pastor of his senior priest whose willingness to celebrate liturgies at the last minute when an emergency arises is a blessing.

"He is well loved and so respectful of the pastors that have succeeded him. He is always cheerful and it is a delight having him in the house to dine with us. Naturally, because he is so well known, he is often called on to celebrate the funeral or a wedding of a parishioner, which he does so very enthusiastically. I can call 'Msgr. Charlie' at any time of the day or week and have never heard him say 'no.'"

'If you do the best you can, people are so responsive'
Born in County Cork, Donal Mulcahy attended St. Patrick's Seminary at Maynooth, Ireland, before he came to Los Angeles in 1947 at the invitation of Archbishop Cantwell. Completing his seminary studies at St. John's in Camarillo, he was ordained for Los Angeles in 1951.

Two years later, Father Mulcahy was sent to Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., so that he could eventually work in the archdiocesan marriage tribunal. He was designated a pro-synodal judge in 1973, by which time he had served four years as administrator of Queen of Angels Church, Lompoc, and a year as pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption, Ventura. Named a monsignor in 1978, he served 25 years as pastor in Ventura before becoming Assumption's pastor emeritus in 1997.

Msgr. Mulcahy's service in Ventura also included establishment of a regional tribunal office, where he arranged staffing and trained advocates and lay lawyers to handle marriage cases, including annulments and marriage confirmation processes which facilitated re-entry into the church for Catholics. His work as pastor and as a member of the tribunal gave him a broader view of the issues and people of the Church --- "the tribunal and the pews" --- for which he is grateful.

Today he is proud when he can celebrate Mass with the parish school children and discuss with them the readings of the day in a "dialogue homily," and joining with them in their football, volleyball and basketball activities. "I know the people," he says, "and I'm able to serve them without the burden of administration."

And, with two large hospitals and convalescent homes near the parish, he visits (and anoints, when necessary) patients, and celebrates Mass at these facilities as often as possible. On a recent morning Msgr. Mulcahy was at a convalescent hospital celebrating Mass while Father Steve Davoren, Assumption's current pastor, was celebrating a funeral Mass at the parish.

"Msgr. Mulcahy is certainly a life-saver," says Father Davoren. "He is so present, loving and wise. It's great to have him here. I love his style and his passionate, wise 55 years of priesthood - he is a steady guide. He calms me down when I need to calm down. He is optimistic and he still loves being a priest."

For his part, Msgr. Mulcahy is appreciative of Father Davoren. "Father Steve has been very gracious to me and given me the opportunity to work in the parish at my own pace," he says. "If I hadn't had the opportunity to retire and live in the parish I served in, I wouldn't be able to do the pastoral work I've done."

He pauses, and smiles. "If you do the best you can, people are so responsive, cooperative and appreciative," he says. "It is such a joy helping people, reconciling them with God and helping promote their relationship with God."

'Just doing my job'
On this day, Msgrs. Mulcahy and O'Gorman were at Santa Clara Chapel, preparing to attend the funeral of another Irish priest, Msgr. Andrew McGrath, former pastor of La Purísima Concepción Church in Lompoc (and their countryman from County Waterford). The funeral was scheduled for Thursday that week, their usual day for golf and cards with a group of priests in the area.

Both reflect the modesty shared by many of his generation. Msgr. O'Gorman says he has been happy to do his work these past six decades quietly, without fanfare or publicity, while Msgr. Mulcahy sees "nothing heroic" of his 58 years as a priest. "I was just doing my job," he says simply, "just being a priest."

In a wistful moment Msgr. Mulcahy quotes from Tomas O'Crohan's The Island Man, an account of life on the Blasket Islands off the west coast of Ireland:

"The like of us," he smiles, "will never be seen again."