For the Rev. Tom White, retirement is only a state of mind.

White, the former pastor at Wheaton’s St. Daniel the Prophet Catholic church, is still an active priest, 50 years after his ordination and four years after his retirement.

“I retired from meetings and telephones and raising money,” he said with a laugh.

He still does liturgy — “helping out on the weekends,” he said. “It was tough to leave the people.”

In his five decades in the priesthood, White served at churches throughout the Diocese of Joliet before receiving his last assignment in 1989: establishing Wheaton’s third Catholic church — what would become St. Daniel.

“When it started, it was St. No Name,” White said.

Looking back at his long career, White said he sees the work of the Holy Spirit.

“Spirit moves,” he said. “I’m a great believer that He moves us where He wants to. Everything fits, but you don’t recognize that it’s fitting until you look back.”

Notable
White entered seminary as a high school student in 1947. He celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination on May 30. He has served through five popes as well as the monumental changes ushered in by the Second Vatican Council.

& quotable
White remembers one of the more daunting assignments he received: a church particularly strapped for cash. “(The day I arrived) there was $18.50 in the church treasury. I had at least a twenty dollar bill in my wallet. I was a buck-and-a-half in the good.”

Greatest success?
“I survived 50 years,” he said with a boisterous laugh. “That’s the greatest accomplishment. The Lord has been with me the entire time, so it’s been great.”

Favorites:
MOVIE “Gone with the Wind”
BOOK “The Second World War,” Winston Churchill
MUSIC Classical music and classic crooners such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Perry Como