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Fired the choir, called a teenager
The phone call
Father Krisner had been the beloved priest at Holy Name High School, famous partly for his dog, Shadow. On Ash Wednesday of Sara's junior year, he came over the PA to announce he was leaving that very day to become pastor of St. Colette in Brunswick. Two weeks later, the school office called her down to a phone. It was Father Krisner, who called her Susie Q because he never learned her name, and he said he had fired the choir.
He offered her a paid job singing at his church with flexible hours. She said no, because she sang at St. Charles and his Mass times clashed with her schedule. Nobody said no to Father Krisner, and the tone of the call changed. Her parents encouraged her to think it over, and her Italian mother put it bluntly: do whatever that priest tells you to do.
From singer to teacher
She took every other weekend. That became three out of four, then every Mass, and by her freshman year of college she was running the music ministry and helping with youth group. Watching him teach the kids made her want to teach theology, so she finished her music degree and got certified in theology along the way.
On the day she drove to graduate orientation at Walsh, the assistant principal at Holy Name called to offer her a job. She took it and kept working part time at St. Colette. A few years later, she met her husband, who turned out to be Father Krisner's nephew.
Why do priests get reassigned so suddenly?
Diocesan priests promise obedience to their bishop at ordination, and the bishop assigns them to parishes and schools. Church law says a pastor should have stability in his post and be appointed for an indefinite period. The same law lets a conference of bishops allow fixed terms instead, and many dioceses use them. A bishop can also move a priest outside any schedule when a parish or school has an urgent need.
Where does the nickname Susie Q come from?
Suzie Q began as a dance step in the swing era of the 1930s, and the name became a playful way to address a girl or young woman whose name the speaker did not know or use. Singer Dale Hawkins turned it into a rock and roll hit in 1957 with a song called Susie Q. Creedence Clearwater Revival covered it in 1968 as their first single to reach the charts.
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