ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — The Rev. Patrick Madden is used to moving. He’s done it a lot over the past 57-plus years.

His father was in the Air Force, so Madden moved a lot growing up. He and his sister Catherine were born in Orlando, Fla., and moved to England, Kansas and California before moving to the Mobile area where his father was stationed on Dauphin Island.

After attending grade school at Our Lady of Lourdes in Mobile, he attended a seminary preparatory high school in Monroe, Va. It was there, he said, that the seeds of feeling God’s call to the priesthood were felt.

“We had one of the largest indoor swimming facilities in the country,” he said. “The Lord used that water to plant the seeds of thinking about joining the ministry. In fishing, you could say you get a couple of nibbles before you get a real bite. That water in high school drew me in and as I grew, I began to study the scriptures more and more and that helped me feel God’s call.”

It was in college where Madden really got hooked on the idea of joining the ministry. He studied at Loyola University in New Orleans and worked as a psychologist at the Albert Brewer Center in Mobile before joining the seminary at St. Mary’s in Baltimore.

He was ordained as a minister at the Cathedral Basillica in Mobile and over the next 28 years he would once again move around a lot.

He served as associate pastor at five different churches before getting his first commission as pastor at Christ the King Church in Andalusia. From there he served at St. Margaret’s in Bayou La Batre and the Emancipation Church in Monroeville, then served churches in Butler, Choctaw County; Chatom, Washington County; and Grove Hill, Clarke County before coming to Robertsdale’s St. Patrick’s Church about a month ago.

“I’ve gone from ‘Forrest Gump’ to ‘To Kill A Mockingbird,’ and all points in between,” he joiked. Through his service at the churches in Bayou La Batre and Monroeville, he met both authors Winston Groom and Harper Lee, he said. “It’s been quite and experience.”

In his last service before coming to Robertsdale, he said, he served five churches.

“I was used to traveling 2,000 miles a month going between churches,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed it here. I’m so excited to have a staff and I really don’t have to drive much. I go across the street to the school, then occassionally to the nursing home and hospitals. I can fill my car up with gas and it can last two weeks. I’ve never been able to do that before.”

Madden, who will be officially ordained as the new minister at St. Patricks on Sunday, Aug. 14, is just the third priest to serve St. Patrick’s.

The Rev. James Kerwin founded the church in the early 1970s and served for over 20 years before his death in the 1990s. The Rev. William James continues to serve the church in semi-retirement, Madden said, taking on some of the visitation duties and the leading the occassional weekend service.

“People have been very welcoming,” he said. “It’s been a blessing to have such a great staff with Father James and Sister Margaret (Harte, principal at St. Patrick School) You almost could’t wish for anything better.”

Madden also plans to continue his volunteer work. He has served as an officer with Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD), serving as coordinator in Monroe County. He is also active with the American Red Cross and the Rotary Club.

“I am looking forward to serving with an active Rotary Club like the one here in Robertsdale that does so much to help with the community,” he said.

As for a working philosophy, he said, he sees the church as people that fellowship and worship together to help one another.

“I had a priest that told me once that the church is everybody’s house,” he said.

That philosophy is especially true in the tough economic times of today.

“I believe that the big answers to today’s problems can be found in the smaller answers of being kind to one another and helping one another,” he said. “I was very blessed to be involved after Hurricane Ivan with several different faith-based groups that all came together to help one another. That’s what it is going to take to get us through this crisis and any other we might face.”

Another blessing of being able to serve St. Patrick’s, he said, is being close to family. His sister Catherine Dubisson lives in Daphne and works at Baptist Hospital. Her daughter, Leah Dubisson, lives in Fairhope and works with Daphne Childcare.

“Catherine told me that in all my 28 years of service, I have never been able to serve close to family, so she encouraged me to apply for this assignment,” he said. “I am just happy to be close to family.”