When a priest ranks the responsibilities of his work, driving from one place to the next might not show up as a priority.
Of course, it is also a vital skill that for many of us becomes second-nature.
So it was with some hesitation that soon-to-be Father Dennis Stameza approached friend and mentor Father Roger DiBuo about his reluctance to become an operator of a motor vehicle. He has no driver’s license and had never driven a car.
Deacon Stameza is scheduled to be ordained a priest by Bishop William E. Koenig at the Cathedral of St. Peter May 17 in the Diocese of Wilmington.
As it has done with men on the cusp of priesthood the last several years, The Dialog sought out priests identified by the about-to-be-ordained priest as having had an impact on him during years of formation.
Father Roger DiBuo, pastor, St. Elizabeth, Wilmington
It is not the first time Father DiBuo has been listed by a young priest as having had a significant impact on the men being shaped for priesthood.
For seven summers in a row, beginning with his pastorate at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Bear and most recently at his current parish, Father DiBuo has been assigned a seminarian for the summer. It demonstrates his acumen in helping prepare others for God’s work. The parish assignment gives the men an opportunity to experience life in a rectory and assist in preparation of liturgies and other tasks around the church.
Father DiBuo is accustomed to questions about many aspects of the job. It was a first, however, when Stameza asked him about the possibility of being a priest without a driver’s license. He did not drive in his homeland, Tanzania, and he’d spent enough time observing drivers in the states, where he spent time living in Washington and the Wilmington area.
He had seen enough to know he’d prefer not to get behind the wheel.
Father DiBuo explained that such a situation is not feasible in parish work here in Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. But he did one better for Stameza. He told him he’d teach him to drive.
So off they went. It was summer of 2021 when Stameza was assigned to Father DiBuo, who at the time was pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Bear.
“He did not know how to drive, and I said as a priest in our diocese, you need to drive,” Father DiBuo said in a recent interview. “And I’ll teach you to drive. We spent many weeks practicing and going slowly and getting him to take the test at the DMV.”
It wasn’t all back roads and parking lots. Father DiBuo said he took Stameza on Interstate 95, recognizing the seminarian would be driving the highway in trips back and forth from St. Mary’s Seminary in Maryland.
“Ever since that summer, Dennis and I have remained friends and as well as me remaining a mentor for him.”
In three of the last years, Stameza has joined Father DiBuo for long stretches at Christmas and Easter and has come to know the parishioners at St. Elizabeth in Wilmington. Father DiBuo said many of his parishioners have come to appreciate the soon-to-be priest.
“Dennis is a very personable and engaging young man and is really interested in the people that he’s meeting. I see that as a good quality in him. He’s very comfortable around people and has a great willingness to serve. I enjoy that about him. He has the personality to be a very good parish priest.”
Father DiBuo said he was pleased and honored to be asked to vest Stameza before his priestly ordination and said Stameza has a very strong and balanced approach to liturgy. He said he believes parishioners can look forward to a good and dedicated priest.
Father Joseph Piekarski, pastor, St. Mary of the Assumption, Hockessin
The former pastor of St. John the Beloved agrees with Father DiBuo. He says Stameza has the right disposition and dedication. Father Piekarski came to know him when Stameza was assigned for his pastoral year at St. John’s while Father Piekarski was there.
“We just grew in friendship and really in ministry,” Father Piekarski said.
“He is nothing more than a pleasure — a pleasant person, very religious, very pious.
Always willing to go out of his way to help out. Not only good to live with as a brother but very attuned to people of all ages.”
“He has a great heart,” Father Piekarski said. “Children love him. He has the joy of the Holy Spirit. He’s well-loved by everybody who has been in contact with him.
“He’s well-received, highly regarded. A very sensitive, authentic person. Very prudent, very wise.”
Father Piekarski said Deacon Stameza’s strong family of faith has helped his vocation.
“When John Paul II visited his country, his mother worked for the church and was able to get close enough to the pope to ask for prayers that one of her children be called to priesthood.”
“I assure you,” the pontiff told her, “one will have a vocation.”
Father Piekarski is convinced the diocese is getting a quality priest.
“I have a very high regard for him,” he said.
Father Norman Carroll, pastor, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Father Carroll is also diocesan director of the Office of Priestly and Religious Vocations. In his role, he is the priest most closely associated with all seminarians.
Those who are here from foreign countries get even more attention from Father Carroll as he arranges work for them during down time when they cannot spend time at home the same way as seminarians whose families are here.
Father Carroll recalls his first meeting with Deacon Stameza, which he described as “good and positive.”
Happy is a word to describe him, Father Carroll said.
“He’s made a lot of friends here. I think it’s easy for people to become comfortable with him.”
“I think he’ll be a great, joyful, approachable priest,” the vocations director said.
