Fr. Gene Neff (right) visits with Bob Raab at the Catholic Ministry to Sick & Aged Picnic, held June 5 at the Catholic War Veterans Post 370, south of Belleville. Fr. Neff is celebrating 50 years as director of the Catholic Ministry to Sick & Aged (David Wilhelm photo).

Father Gene Neff learned the importance of lending a hand as a young boy.

No one needed to explain anything to him. Fr. Neff merely observed his parents, Eugene and Dorothy, whose actions always spoke louder than their words.

“We had neighbors who couldn’t drive,” said Fr. Neff, reflecting on his upbringing in Belleville. “On Sunday mornings, we had the car crammed full of little old ladies. We would pick them up in the neighborhood and take them to church on Sunday. Or mom would take them to a ladies’ sodality meeting.

“(My parents) were reaching out to them all the time.”

Fr. Neff fashioned a similar lifestyle. On July 12, he will celebrate 50 years as the director of Catholic Ministry to Sick & Aged (MSA), a position to which he was appointed by former Diocese of Belleville Bishop Albert Zuroweste. Fr. Neff also was a priest in the diocese for 53 years.

Fr. Neff, 79, visits patients in Memorial Hospitals in Belleville and Shiloh. He ministers to residents in assisted-living homes and long-term care and rehabilitation centers. Whatever the need, Fr. Neff vows to meet it with the same care, compassion and tenderness he witnessed at an early age.

On June 4, for example, Fr. Neff celebrated Mass and the Eucharist with residents of Keystone Place at Richland Creek in O’Fallon, the sacramental arm of MSA.

The next day, Fr. Neff attended the MSA’s 45th annual picnic at Catholic War Veterans Post 370, south of Belleville, the pastoral side of the ministry.

Fr. Neff visited with busloads of elderly people. Laughs were shared. Music by The Prairie Travelers was enjoyed. Delicious food was prepared and blessed by Bishop Michael McGovern. Even the St. Louis Cardinals’ mascot, Fredbird, dropped by.

Fellowship-driven events like these help the elderly face another day and confirm that they are cherished, not forgotten or cast aside.

“We need to practice holistic wellness — body, mind and spirit,” Fr. Neff said. “I rely on activity directors and the medical field to (aid) the body. My role for the Catholic residents is to deal with the spiritual, in collaboration with the activities people, to make sure these folks know when there’s Mass here. I’m part of a team that works with a generation that society pushes off as not useful because they’re not good-looking, mostly they’re not wealthy and they’re not healthy.”

Celebrating Mass has always been a special occasion for Fr. Neff, particularly with people who would have no other way to attend were it not for him being present.

“Think about what you just saw upstairs,” Fr. Neff said following Mass at Keystone Place at Richland Creek. “The Eucharist is really important to that generation. Right now, we’re in the midst of the Year of the Eucharist. We’re going to have processions and all sorts of things going on. For us, the Eucharist is incredibly important. But for that generation, it’s even more so. They need God in their lives.”

Fr. Neff long ago formed the opinion that the Church could do a better job reaching out to those who are most in need of ministry, whether sacramental or pastoral.

“One thing that always bothered me, as a seminarian and a younger priest, is that it seemed like parish life revolved around the people who were (at church) Sunday, or lived in their home or were active in the parish. What happened? Was there any attention paid to those who were in these long-term care facilities? … That generation was forgotten, and that has always kind of bothered me. There are priests that go religiously to those places. But there are some who don’t go at all.”

Fr. Neff agrees that caring for the sick and elderly often is a skill that is learned over time. People in the first half of their lives are sometimes so busy establishing themselves and enjoying their youth that they are out of touch with the problems older people face.

“When I first started, I was young and spry,” Fr. Neff said. “I never dreamed (I would get old), but now I’m walking in their shoes. I have a better understanding of their frustration.

“All we can do is set a good example (for young people) wherever we happen to be, and hope to God that somehow they pick up on it. You set a good example and preach what’s important. But it’s not an automatic. It has to be a personal compassion, I think, an understanding.”

Fr. Neff recalled another occasion when he witnessed first-hand the compassion required by people to put themselves in situations where they can provide help to the sick and aged.

Again, it was in Fr. Neff’s youth that he experienced it.

“I used to go with my mom, who was the power of attorney for her aunt — my great aunt — who was living out the final years of her life in Monroe County Nursing Home,” Fr. Neff said. “Mom would always take me along with her and I would go in and visit. She would get to the car (afterwards) and she would say, ‘It hurts so bad to go in there.’ But I saw the compassion in my mom.

“My dad was right there, too. My dad came from a family of nine and my mom from a family of four. We would always go see our grandparents. They were important. They were the center of family life.”

Fr. Neff is grateful for the presence of Connie Barre, his longtime assistant director of MSA. Barre works closely with Fr. Neff and oversses dozens of volunteers who are a vital component of the ministry.

“She’s phenomenal,” Fr. Neff said of Barre. “Without her, I’m not sure the ministry would be there. She’s got an incredible knack for affirming people.”

It is, after all, what MSA is about — touching people. The needs always exist, and they come in many shapes and sizes that require Fr. Neff and others to be versatile.

“This a ministry of presence,” Fr. Neff said. “What was Jesus’ ministry about? Being present for the people of his time. If people just need to talk, you talk. If I’m able to meet their need, I will.”

At any hour of the day.

“Did Jesus turn people (away) when he went home?” Fr. Neff said. “No, he didn’t do that. If I’m supposed to be following his example, I better walk the talk.”

To reach MSA, call 618-235-9991.