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COLONIA — North Platte, Neb., may not be everyone’s idea of a summer vacation spot, but to the recently installed pastor of St. John Vianney Parish, it is a perfect location to indulge a passion for trains. Father John J. Barbella is a train enthusiast, both M scale model trains and the real ones that transport people and over a quarter of all the goods needed for our country.
On Oct. 23, Father Barbella was again elevated to serve as the “engineer” of a parish to meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of its “passengers.” At a Mass at St. John Vianney Church, Bishop James F. Checchio installed Father Barbella as pastor, the fifth time during his 35 years as a priest he either served as administrator or pastor of a parish in the diocese.
In his homily, Bishop Checchio quoted Pope Francis who said, “The first job of a pastor is to be a believer, someone who parishioners can believe with, be it at baptism or the other sacraments, at joyful or sad moments and even at the final moment.”
Bishop Checchio assured the parishioners that Father Barbella was a pastor with whom they can believe.
Father Barbella was born in Queens, N.Y., to Natalie Leonardo and John Barbella Sr. He has two younger sisters, Natalie and Christine, who, Father Barbella believes, “are more religious than I am.”
The family moved to Sayreville when was a baby. Father Barbella attended Sayreville War Memorial High School and Montclair State College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history.
Father Barbella explained the attraction of North Platte as the location of the Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard, the world’s largest rail classification and sorting area. This concentration of freight trains gives him opportunities to watch and photograph them. In addition, he has an extensive model railroad he constructed based on a typical coal-mining town in western Pennsylvania. This layout has moved with him from parish to parish. His mother mentioned that only recently had she gotten rid of his first layout board. After sharing his hobbies in the parish bulletin, he was pleased to have a number of parishioners tell him that they share his interest.
Although he does not recall anyone suggesting he might consider the priesthood, throughout his childhood and into his teen years Father Barbella believed that God was calling him to be a priest. He explained that he he did not fully understand what was needed to prepare for ordination to the priesthood until he discussed it with a parish priest when he was 14-years-old.
After graduation from Montclair State, he entered Mount St. Mary Seminary, Emmitsburg, Md. His time in the seminary was great and he said, “It was really the first school I ever enjoyed.”
After graduation from Mount St. Mary with a Master of Divinity degree, Father Barbella was ordained to the priesthood May 20, 1987, at the Cathedral of St Francis Cathedral.
His first assignment was as a parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish, Alpha, then in a similar role at Our Lady of Mount Virgin Parish, Middlesex, and St. Matthias Parish, Somerset.
He was briefly the temporary administrator at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish, Bridgewater.
He has served as pastor at St. Magdalen de Pazzi Parish, Flemington; St. Jude Parish, Blairstown; Holy Spirit, Parish, Perth Amboy, and Most Holy Rosary Parish, Hopelawn, simultaneously, and Sts. Philip and James Parish, Philipsburg, before being named pastor at St. John Vianney.
Father Barbella said his new parish is very active and vibrant. It serves 2,733 registered families and 209 in its religious educsation program. Its parochial school serves 309 children in the main and pre-school combined.
The faith community has a very rich mixture of age and ethnicity, he added.
Commenting on his current assignment, he noted that St. John Vianney — who was a parish priest in a small town of Ars, France, in the mid-19th century — has been a strong influence on his life as priest. Since reading the saint’s biography, Father Barbella has taken the model of that priest’s life, as the one, “I try to follow and the one that has guided me always, especially in situations that have been difficult.”
Although Father Barbella has enjoyed all of his assignments, whether as parochial vicar or pastor, He said, “I always consider myself first as a priest.”
In addition to trains, Father Barbella is also an avid New York Yankees fan and particularly enjoys attending minor league baseball games throughout New Jersey.
Deacon Cline exercises his ministry at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish, Bridgewater
