Father Fuzzy: Our Newest Household Item

Father Fuzzy. We have all heard of him by now, the adorable little pom-pom figure thought of by our own pastor, Father Jack Kingsbury.
Father Jack came up with the idea for Father Fuzzy as a newly ordained priest in 1983 while at St. Clement’s Church in Saratoga Springs, New York. He created Father Fuzzy to bring knowledge about the Church to the Religious Program there. Father Fuzzy has come alive again at the request of Father Jack to bring knowledge of priests to the children of our parish now, 26 years later. He found that it was much easier to spread the idea of Father Fuzzy with today’s technology and the fact that our parish is much bigger gave him more people to spread the news. He also had a small problem that ended up helping with spreading the news: they couldn’t make the Father Fuzzies fast enough at first!
Many people have helped him as well including his mother, Trudy Kingsbury, St. Mary’s Elementary School teachers, and the High School students in the Father Fuzzy Activity Club. And parishioners have quickly fallen in love: “He really is a great idea for educating the little kids about priests.” says Chyrell Cardillo, an active parishioner at St. Mary’s.
Father Jack is also quite enthused at how well he is able to relate to young people using Father Fuzzy. “In various situations where I have brought Father Fuzzy along the young people I am talking with seem to get more relaxed and just begin to chat. Father Fuzzy breaks down a lot of “distance” that can be there naturally because of the differences in age and life experience.” He says during an interview. Also, as some might know, Pope Benedict XVI has deemed this year the “Year for Priests” to bring awareness to the need for vocations into the priesthood, and FF has brought this much needed awareness to parishioners at St. Mary’s. This is one of Father’s main goals—to bring awareness to St. Mary’s about priests. The other is to understand more about the Catholic Church in general.
He wants the parishioners to see the Church “in its most universal sense” and know that it really is a wonderful and interesting thing to be a part of.