This Mother’s Day will be a particularly poignant one for two diocesan priests, both of whose mothers passed away in recent months.
Phyllis F. Sizemore, 93, the mother of Father David Sizemore, pastor of Newark St. Francis de Sales Church, died in her Columbus home on Saturday, March 5.
Father David Schalk’s mother, Bernadette M. Schalk, 77, died on Monday, April 4, in Maryville, Tennessee, where she and her husband, Larry, had moved from Pickerington in 2000. Father Schalk is pastor of Columbus Christ the King and St. Thomas the Apostle churches.
Fathers Sizemore and Schalk both said the examples set by their mothers played significant roles in the discernment process that led to their ordination as priests.
“Growing up with my mother taught me more about the faith than anything I learned as a seminarian,” Father Sizemore said. “I received theological training in the seminary, but living out the faith through prayer, love of the Eucharist, being an everyday witness to Jesus Christ and showing me how to be one of His disciples – that all came from Mom.
“I’m the youngest child and only boy in my family, with three older sisters. Mom would get up on school days before any of us and get us ready to go to Groveport public schools,” said Father Sizemore, whose family attended Columbus Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church.
“Before getting us off to school, she would sit in what she called her prayer chair, read the Bible and say the rosary and other devotional prayers so we would all be in communion with God as we got ready for the day.
“That provided me with years of example, mostly without her saying a word. Through her, I developed a prayer life that allowed me to hear the voice of God calling me to be a priest while I was attending Ohio University. I was studying for a business degree, had been dating a girl for a couple of years and was thinking about getting married, but it became clear that God wanted me to be a priest.
“I left OU, transferred to the Pontifical College Josephinum, have been a priest for 25 years and have loved it,” he said. “And I do have a business degree – a master’s in business administration I earned with the encouragement of Bishop (James) Griffin.”
His mother, who was a Xerox Corp. employee for 30 years, was married to Billy Joe Sizemore for 35 years until he died in 1992. “My father was an agnostic, but he also was a man of virtue,” Father Sizemore said.
“He gave me the courage I needed when I left college for the Josephinum. He told me, ‘I know you’re sacrificing a lot to go there, but having seen you grow and mature, I can’t imagine you not doing it. At the very least, if you decide not to be a priest, spending time in the seminary still will be a good thing because it will help you be a better husband and father.’”
Father Sizemore said his father ceased his agnosticism toward the end of his life because of an encounter that occurred while he was struggling with cancer. “Dad had a near-death experience,” he said. “As many others have, Dad saw a powerful light that was beyond anything he’d ever encountered, and the vision transformed him. ‘That was God,’ he said.”
Father Sizemore’s mother had dementia in the last stages of her life. “It was really bad in the last few months,” he said. “She was taking lots of sedatives, but she was so excited about being able to soon see Jesus, my dad and her mother again. It was a real blessing to be able to lead her to Christ for eternity and to prepare her for heaven as she prepared me to serve Jesus.”
Father Schalk’s mother was a nurse at the former St. Anthony Hospital in Columbus, now Ohio State East Hospital. “I appreciated the way she served people because she was in health care,” Father Schalk said. “She worked with patients in the pre-operation stage and would leave home very early in the morning.
“Her strength was calming the nerves of patients, putting them at ease in the moments before they would undergo surgery. I see a correlation between her work and mine. I’m not a medical doctor but a shepherd of souls, and part of what I do often involves putting people at ease to lead them to God’s grace.”
Father Schalk is the youngest of six children and has three brothers, one of them deceased, and two sisters. Their father, Larry, worked for the Ohio Bell Telephone Co. and its successors before taking early retirement in 2000. The couple then moved to Tennessee, where Larry Schalk founded Ameritraining Inc., which provides support services for the telecommunications industry.
“My parents couldn’t take part in a lot of church activities because of the nature of their work, but they were a picture of fidelity to Sunday Mass,” Father Schalk said.
“When I went to Pickerington High School, they supported me in everything I was involved with at school and St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, especially the various high school bands and the Seton Parish Youth (SPY) group. They waited to move to Tennessee until I graduated from high school.
“They also were involved with the parish’s annual mission trip to Cranks Creek, Kentucky, especially Dad. The three of us served people in need in Appalachia, with Mom walking along and providing support for Dad and me.
“I felt the call to the priesthood during Eucharistic Adoration while I was in SPY. I discerned that my calling was to be a priest of the Columbus diocese, so I stayed here and went to the Josephinum and later to Mundelein Seminary near Chicago, and they went to Tennessee,” Father Schalk said.
“But despite the distance, they were beside me every step of the way. Just like when I was in high school, they’d support me at major events like the plays we used to put on at the Josephinum and its annual basketball tournament against other seminaries.
“Of course, they were at my ordination to the priesthood, but they’d also come to visit me on weekends at Delaware St. Mary Church, where I had my first assignment as parochial vicar, and at Christ the King, where they attended my 30th birthday party in 2011 and the celebration of my 10-year anniversary in the priesthood in 2018, among other things.
“I’ve had three important women in my life,” Father Schalk said. “My paternal grandmother, Berneda Schalk, taught me the basics of the faith. She showed me the beauty of the rosary and the joy of parish life. My mother dedicated herself to her profession and the care of others. And then there’s the Blessed Virgin. My love for her and my love for Mom go hand in hand.”