Prayer is part of his retirement program

For all the work Gerry Grogan does at Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Albany, all he asks for in return is a prayer here and a prayer there.

Mr. Grogan, a retired paper mill worker who has lived in Cohoes his entire life, volunteers at Our Lady Help of Christians each Monday morning, performing maintenance work at no cost to Rev. Robert Hohenstein, pastor.

When he's not busy sprucing up the church property there, Mr. Grogan, 70, spends his time doing similar work at St. Marie's and St. Bernard's in Cohoes, or visiting the folks at Child's Nursing Home and McAuley Residence in Albany.

He doesn't accept money for his efforts, but Mr. Grogan considers himself wealthy indeed. "If you're going to do volunteer work, do it all for the glory of God, and you're the richest man in the world," he said.

Picture this

It was his hobby -- photography -- that initially brought him to Our Lady Help of Christians, but it's his belief in the importance of work and charitable acts that has kept him coming back.

After taking pictures of several churches he had visited in the Albany area, he attended Masses at Our Lady Help of Christians last summer to check the place out. He spoke with Father Hohenstein, who allowed him to take pictures of the church and informed him that the parish was looking for a maintenance worker.

Mr. Grogan, who had been working as a janitor at St. Marie's Church and School for a few years, wasn't sure if he wanted to take on the additional responsibilities. Then he started coming to the church and performing maintenance work that needed to be done, whether it was polishing interior walls, raking leaves, stripping floors or laying cement. Mr. Grogan wouldn't accept money for his services and paid for materials out of his own pocket.

Easy payments

He's been returning each week ever since, and all he asks of Father Hohenstein is prayers for his special intentions. If Mr. Grogan knows of a boy with a brain tumor, for example, or a friend who's going through a rough time, he asks the priest to pray for that person.

Often, the prayers have been answered, and that's plenty for Mr. Grogan, a religious man who has a special devotion to St. Therese, the Little Flower.

Mr. Grogan's timing couldn't have been better, and Father Hohenstein considers himself fortunate to have met such a generous and dedicated person. "I couldn't even hire someone to do what he's volunteered to do," he said.

Rewards

Mr. Grogan's kindness hasn't gone unnoticed; the folks at Child's Nursing Home made him a shirt with the message "Our Guardian Angel," featuring several pictures he'd taken of them. The fourth-grade students at St. Marie's gave him a shirt with their signatures on it.

Father Hohenstein describes Mr. Grogan as someone you'd see in an episode of the television program "Touched By an Angel." He even talked about Mr. Grogan during his Christmas homily, and parishioners were pleasantly surprised to learn that someone was doing so much volunteer work for the parish.

Mr. Grogan plans to continue helping out at Our Lady Help of Christians and the other places he visits for as long as he remains healthy.

As for being paid only in prayers, he admits that maybe there is one little thing he wouldn't mind receiving.

"I will take an apple pie every now and then," he said with a smile.

(02-12-98) [[In-content Ad]]