Father Jim Szobonya: Redemptorist and Good Sport

Since last August, Fr. Jim Szobonya, C.Ss.R., has been the residing pastor at Sacred Heart of Mary and Saint Rita churches in Baltimore, Maryland. Both of which are to be merged into larger “Mosaic Parishes” as part of the diocese’s “Seek the City to Come” plan. In less than a year’s time, Fr. Jim has made a real impression on his parishioners with his engaging personality, playful sense of humor, which often includes costumes and props, and his passion for connecting with others. Navigating a parish through this process is no easy task—it takes leadership, compassion, and someone who is a good sport.Fr. Jim’s path to becoming a Redemptorist and to Baltimore was a long journey. He grew up in New Jersey playing baseball, football, and basketball. His family, like so many families in the northeast, is divided. Half were New York Yankees fans and half were New York Mets fans. He denied the pressure of his Mets-loving relatives and followed in his father’s footsteps as a diehard Yankees fan. 

In November of 1986, Fr. Jim had made the decision to marry the woman he was dating. As the proposal approached, something began to bother him. He thought it was cold feet, so he decided to pray on it. He told The Beacon, “I was having a heart to heart with God. Why can’t I marry her? Why this uneasiness? Why this unrest? And amid all that chaos in my life, I felt my first inspiration, that inner voice that was saying, ‘If you marry her, you’ll never have a chance to become a priest’.”  This came as a shock to Fr. Jim who had not seriously considered becoming a priest up until that point.

Fr. Jim worked as a public accountant for years before finally answering his calling that he heard over a decade earlier. He entered the seminary in January of 1999, and was ordained in May of 2006. His first assignment was in Bethpage, New York. His journey then took him to Lima, Ohio, where he became pastor and principal of a struggling Catholic school. The school did not close and, in true Fr. Jim fashion, he takes no credit. “God did not want it to close yet. God turned it around.” His third assignment was in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, where among other undertakings, he started the early childhood development program, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, teaching three- to five-year-olds using the hands-on Montessori method. This long journey has led him to where he is today.

   On August 15, 2023, Fr. Jim began his current assignment in Baltimore. In short order, Fr. Jim became a fixture in the communities of Sacred Heart of Mary and Saint Rita churches. There is a large Spanish-speaking population in Baltimore and Fr. Jim does not speak Spanish, so he decided to connect with his community through a different kind of language. Sports. As a former athlete, high school football team chaplain, and educator, he believes in the power of sports as a vessel for faith. “God can use sports because you can learn so many good lessons while participating in them: discipline, teamwork, how to win, and how to lose. Stuff of that nature.”

One enormous success in his first year was the parish indoor soccer league. “We started playing and would have local kids coming every Saturday. We just played soccer and now it has progressed,” Fr. Jim said, while joking that his skills as a soccer player are not the best. The league now plays on Friday and Saturday nights and is made up of 24 teams.

A parish raffle created a lot of buzz within the community in July. Fr. Jim knew how to incentivize participation in the fundraiser by using humor and the sense of pride the people of Baltimore have for their city. The proud Yankees fan challenged the parish that if they meet the fundraising goal, he would don the uniform of Yankees’ rival and parish favorite, the Baltimore Orioles.

The goal was easily met and surpassed. So, true to his word, Fr. Jim surprised the congregation before the final hymn of Mass. He excused himself from the altar to grab something he claimed he forgot. Once out of sight, he removed his vestments to show off the Orioles uniform underneath and reappeared to the congregation. “They went nuts,” Fr. Jim recalled, “But I did not have a hat on, so I went into a little box on the side and put on a Yankees hat. And they started booing.” Just adding to the fun, he had to dramatize the situation a bit before putting on the Orioles hat to complete the full uniform.Fr. Jim has made such a positive impact on Sacred Heart of Mary and Saint Rita churches, just like everywhere else he has been. His passion for community, teaching, and for the Gospel is apparent for all to see. 

“I learned that you could bring humor and you could bring a different way of presenting something that could still be very powerful and sacred.”  It is this mentality that got him voted “Best Pastor” in a local publication, which is just another thing that makes him a great Redemptorist—and what makes him such a good sport. 

A special thank you to Barbara Aupperley for informing The Baltimore Beacon of the Fr. Jim Szobonya Oriole uniform story and providing us with the photo published in this story. †