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A life of Dedication: Lessons of Father Fred

A life of Dedication: Lessons of Father Fred

Last updated on: July 10, 2026 at 11:33 am by Father Pablo Migone

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A life of Dedication: Lessons of Father Fred 2026-07-10T11:33:46-05:00 Father Pablo Migone

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This article is in memory of Monsignor Fred Nijem who died earlier this year. He was my first Pastor after ordination in 2009.

Still a newly ordained priest, I mentioned to my pastor, Father Fred Nijem, that I felt I was spending too much time working on my Sunday homilies. I did not expect much of a response from him, but I imagined he might say something along the lines of, “do not worry too much, let the Holy Spirit do his job.” Father Fred responded in his usual, short manner, with one word: “good.” After shaking off his response which surprised me, he said, “it is good to work hard on your homilies, the people deserve it.”

Oftentimes when returning home to the rectory at night, being as quiet as possible, as I turned around after gently closing the door into the house, I would see the back of Father Fred sitting at his desk. Desk light on, Bible open, right elbow on the desk, and his head reclining gently forward at an angle on his raised hand. That was a dedicated man in profound prayer, preparing for the task that had been commended to him at ordination – preaching the Word of God. Though I never saw Father Fred reading one of his prepared texts when he preached, he was always duly prepared, because he knew the Holy Spirit worked through his preparation. In fact, even when he read the Gospel at Mass, I hardly ever saw him reading the text, he had all the texts imprinted into his mind and heart.

My very first day at Sacred Heart as a priest, the parish received a call that a young man was close to death. Father Fred came into my office and without any explanation said, “Pablo, let’s go.” He drove down 247 with me on the passenger seat into a trailer park where a young Mexican man was laying on a couch agonizing. He asked me to anoint the man. When I thought we were ready to leave, he whispered to me, “hold on.” He sat on a chair gently touching the dying man’s forearm. The man took his last breath about fifteen minutes later. As a rookie, I was amazed. How did he know we should stay? How did he know the man was so close to death? Fearless, knowledgeable, pastoral, and most important, fatherly. All displayed over the lapse of thirty minutes on my first day on the job.

One Christmas Eve on the way to Macon to have lunch with brother priests, an emergency call came in of a parishioner dying at the Macon Hospital. So, we took a detour. Father Fred mumbled as we pulled up into the parking deck, “who wants to do this on Christmas Eve?” After we visited the family and he anointed the gentleman, he expounded upon his initial question. “As priests we do things that at times, we do not really want to do, but we do it. Who wants to deal with death on Christmas Eve? But here we are.” The following year, prepared by Father Fred’s wisdom and example, I responded to a suicide on Christmas morning, immediately after finishing Christmas Mass. Father Fred taught me that as a priest, if I am not able to drop everything to respond to the sick and dying, I am not fulfilling my call as a priest.

Father Fred not only was a father to his parishioners, but also a father to the priests assigned to him. Stranded at home due to a snow storm, we worked together on a puzzle of the roof of the Sistine Chapel. He framed it and proudly hung it in the dining room of the rectory. I felt like a child who draws something for Father’s Day, and his dad proudly displays it on his desk or the refrigerator. Father Fred would cook for us, we would sit in the television room and pass the daily crossword puzzle back and forth until we finished it, we would watch Braves games. After many years of faithful service, may he now receive his heavenly reward, together with his loved ones, and especially with the one he loved most – Jesus Christ his loving Savior.

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