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Living in the rectory of St. Matthew’s Catholic Church with his two feline friends, Lizzy and Andy, is the church’s newly appointed pastor. The soft-spoken Father Dan Pisano recently moved into the area about three weeks ago. Trying to bring former members back to the church is the goal of the man of God whose simple message for local residents in these hard times is- “Come home”.
A first generation Italian-American Father Dan, as he likes to be called, understands the needs of small towns as he hails from a mining town in West Virginia that was made up of a diverse group of people.
The 60 year-old was the middle of three children born to coalminer Dan Pisano and his wife, Emma, in the town of Elbert in McDowell County.
“We grew up in a coal camp where we didn’t own anything and there were many strikes, but I loved growing up there. It was filled with foreigners who had come over on boat together and had become friends. They were Hungarian, Polish, German and Italian. All different languages were spoken and the wonderful smells of the food permeated the town and so did the coal dust. My paternal family all lived in a row and my mother learned to speak seven languages because she delivered all of the babies in the town.”
Father Dan recalled a special place that he used to go as a child that was outside of the mining town. He stated that being in this place was his earliest recollection of feeling near God and pondering the marvels of his creator.
“The mountains were spectacular. I was always told not to go into the mountains by my self, but I did. I found this huge bolder on one of the mountains that was covered with moss and I used to go and lie on my back and look up between the trees and think of the wonders of God. As a little boy I was already thinking about these things. I knew at an early age that I wanted to do something special”
Desiring to make a difference like the heroes of his teen years, Dr. Tom Dooley who opened medical clinics in Vietnam and Dr. Betty Martin who worked with Lepers, Father Dan was set on going to college. In a leap of faith with only $90 in his pocket, no prospects of employment or a place to live the young man hopped a bus to the University of Missouri in 1969.
Living in the rectory of St. Matthew’s Catholic Church with his two feline friends, Lizzy and Andy, is the church’s newly appointed pastor. The soft-spoken Father Dan Pisano recently moved into the area about three weeks ago. Trying to bring former members back to the church is the goal of the man of God whose simple message for local residents in these hard times is- “Come home”.
A first generation Italian-American Father Dan, as he likes to be called, understands the needs of small towns as he hails from a mining town in West Virginia that was made up of a diverse group of people.
The 60 year-old was the middle of three children born to coalminer Dan Pisano and his wife, Emma, in the town of Elbert in McDowell County.
“We grew up in a coal camp where we didn’t own anything and there were many strikes, but I loved growing up there. It was filled with foreigners who had come over on boat together and had become friends. They were Hungarian, Polish, German and Italian. All different languages were spoken and the wonderful smells of the food permeated the town and so did the coal dust. My paternal family all lived in a row and my mother learned to speak seven languages because she delivered all of the babies in the town.”
Father Dan recalled a special place that he used to go as a child that was outside of the mining town. He stated that being in this place was his earliest recollection of feeling near God and pondering the marvels of his creator.
“The mountains were spectacular. I was always told not to go into the mountains by my self, but I did. I found this huge bolder on one of the mountains that was covered with moss and I used to go and lie on my back and look up between the trees and think of the wonders of God. As a little boy I was already thinking about these things. I knew at an early age that I wanted to do something special”
Desiring to make a difference like the heroes of his teen years, Dr. Tom Dooley who opened medical clinics in Vietnam and Dr. Betty Martin who worked with Lepers, Father Dan was set on going to college. In a leap of faith with only $90 in his pocket, no prospects of employment or a place to live the young man hopped a bus to the University of Missouri in 1969.
“My father had been on strike for two years and they had no money for me to go to college. I got on a bus at Welch and traveled all night to Columbia, MO. When I got there I put my things in a locker and went over to financial aid and told them my story. They gave me a scholarship for the first year and I had to maintain a certain average. And they referred me to a dormitory where I could work and it would pay for my room and board.”
After graduation, Father Dan returned home in hopes of helping in his community. He was hired as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse, which would prove to be the beginning of his mission to support the underdog as well as give compassion, love and understanding for those in need.
According to Pisano mountain top mining had come to “his mountain” and the State Park while he was at college. Water was contaminated with run off from the mining process and coal dust hovered even thicker in the air than before. Gardens, which were a main source of food for the locals, lay ruined and dying. Those in the community did not know if they would be able to survive. In protest Father Dan did what the school board believed to be unthinkable.
“It was 1973. That’s when I learned about strip mining and I hated that they were stripping my mountain and taking away what God had given us. I got permission from the parents to teach school outside. I would bring the little desks outside and the families would come and sit with me as I taught the children on the road where the coal trucks would pass. One morning we did that and the trucks came and could not get past because we were blocking the way. I was fired because they thought I was a terrorist of sorts.”
The incident pushed the young man to go West Virginia University to get his Masters in social work. He graduated in 1975 and decided he wanted to go into go into religious life. He chose to become a Brother (the equivalent of a nun) in the Alexian Order, which is an order that specializes in healthcare.
It was in this order that Father Dan would stay for 21 years. During his time with the Alexian’s he worked in hospital emergency rooms and with the dying (to date it has amounted to over 1,500 people).
He spent three years in Italy working with the homeless and provided drug and alcohol counseling for soldiers. He as the only Italian-speaking member of the team and three doctors would roam the streets and provide free medical care to the forgotten members of society. He proved to be a friend to those struggling with alcohol and drug addiction.
In the early 1990’s Father Dan helped set up the first Catholic ministry for those with AIDS in the city of Chicago, Illinois. It was at this ministry that he and other brothers helped care for the sick and dying. The home gave AIDS patients a safe haven, compassion and understanding.
In 1999 a second home was opened in St. Louis, which dealt with what the father referred to as “the new face of AIDS”.
Said Father Dan, “The pandemic of AIDS took us back to the original purpose of the Alexian order, which was to take care of people with the plague. I felt that God had put me there to learn about that. The new face of aids was prostitutes and the homeless who would turn tricks to make money, which was disturbing to me because they were spreading the disease. We took in 20 residents. They ate with us, we took them to shop and we would teach them life skills. It was wonderful.”
After 20 years as a Brother, he chose to leave the order to attend seminary school in Boston. After graduation he was an associate pastor at St. John’s in Morgantown and at St. Michael’s in Wheeling. St. Matthew’s is the Father’s first pastoral assignment.
Father Dan has been ordained for approximately four years and has recently signed a contract to teach second year medical students medical ethics at WVU. He stated he is looking forward to becoming part of the Jackson County Ministerial Association, but his main mission is to make the Parrish stronger.
Finished Father Dan, “I want teach the people how to be disciples. I accept these people as gifts of God and I want to have a home environment that welcomes people and brings the church together as a family.”
