Gerry Campeau, Catholic priest and father of 2 set to retire

Gerry Campeau is not your typical father.

He has two kids and seven grandchildren.

But the 75-year-old Campeau is better known as Father Gerry.

As in, Father Gerry, the Roman Catholic priest.

For the past eight years Campeau has been leading the congregation at St. Simon and St Jude Parish in Belle River, Ont.

Last month he decided it was time to step down from the altar and recently held a retirement party.

"I ended my speech by saying I really believe priests should be able to marry," Campeau said.

"And everybody in the whole hall cheered. Maybe the Bishop wouldn't like that, but what are they going to do, fire me?"

A Catholic priest with children is a bit of an anomaly.

Remember dad, you're not our priest, you're our father,- Father Gerry Campeau

After Father Gerry's wife passed away from cancer at the age of 52, he says he felt a calling and entered the seminary.

It was his second attempt at becoming a priest.

After he finished high school, the Tecumseh native enrolled in a seminary but had an early exit.

His mother was a divorcee, his father having left her when Gerry was just an infant. When the seminary found out, he was kicked out.

"The church didn't want me as a priest simply because it was scandalous," he said.

"But you know now, it's no big deal."

Campeau went on to a career as a florist, interior designer and entrepreneur. He married and had two children.

Two years after his wife passed away he entered a "second career" seminary in Boston.

"They told me when I was ordained, my daughter did, 'Remember dad, you're not our priest, you're our father,'" he said.

Father Dad

For his daughter Celeste Campeau, Father Gerry is simply known as dad.

"I really don't know of my father in any other way.This has always been normal for me so I don't really know any other kind of dad," she said.

In did, however, cause some confusion for her three children.

"When the kids were really little and would announce to their class or teacher that their grandfather was a priest, they would either correct them or call home to find out what the kids were talking about, only because it was so unusual," she said.

For Father Gerry, he incorporates his role as a father and grandfather from his vocation.

"He is very well accepted by the people because he understands what it's like to have children, what it's like to have a mortgage, what it's like to worry about a spouses or worry about grandchildren," said Sue Hofgartner, pastoral minister at St. Simon and St Jude.

"So he can relate."

Father Gerry says if the church allowed priests to get married, it could work in its favour.

"We've lost some good priests because they've wanted to marry," he said.

"I think it's important to have a family, to know what it's like to belong to someone, to be able to share your life with someone.That I find most difficult because you're very alone. You have a lot of parishioners, but as soon as you lock that door you're going into your rectory and there's nobody there. And that's hard for a lot of the young guys."

Father Father

Next Sunday will be Campeau's last mass St. Simon and St.Jude.

Though he should expect a number of well wishes from his congregation before then.

"The people are really good. They come out of church on Father's Day, they all wish me happy Father's Day," he said.

"It kind of makes me feel good that they acknowledge that I am a father. Father father."