The Rev. John V. DoBranski does not stand in the pulpit and preach. He walks among the pews, microphone in hand, and makes eye contact with his congregation.
"I like to be with the people when I preach," he said. "If I am moving around, I think better, and I get my points across better."
The new assistant pastor at St. John Catholic Church in Westminster often draws on his own experience as he relates a scriptural message to daily life.
A few weeks ago, Rev. DoBranski told a story from his student days at Maryland Institute, College of Art, long before he was ordained a priest.
Two homeless men asked him for a handout. A cash-poor student, he had little to offer but he emptied his pockets of change and gave it to one man. As he walked away, the men argued. One refused to share the largess with the other.
Rev. DoBranski was so angered at the selfishness that he took back his donation.
"What use is a gift, unless you share?" he asked.
Father DoBranski is sharing his talents with the Westminster parish he has called home since August.
He wears a ring etched with "Love one another as I have loved you" to remind him of "what I am supposed to do."
He came to St. John, his second assignment since his ordination in 1989, after five years at St. Andrew-by-the-Bay in Cape St. Claire.
To his artist's eye, the change of scenery from the choppy Chesapeake to rolling farmland has been an unexpected pleasure.
"I never noticed the fall drama as much as I have here," he said. "The leaves, the sunrises and sunsets, they are all gorgeous."
If only he had unpacked his paints and brushes, he would have put the brilliant autumn on canvas. The walls in his office are still bare of pictures, and he still has not found a studio in his new home. He plans to keep looking.
"Maybe I could take the desk out of my office," he said with a laugh. "I don't use it anyway, except to stack papers on."
He prefers to be out and about, not desk-bound, he said. He wears his clerical collar, but often unbuttoned and under a sweat shirt.
"I have to be doing something," he said. "If it's not something priestly, then I'll probably be in old clothes in the garden or repairing the oil burner or painting."
Father DoBranski "came late" to the priesthood, after a career in the art world. Reared Catholic in Brooklyn, N.Y., he has "had priesthood on the back burner since I was a kid," he said. "I always had a spiritual sense."
He channeled that spirituality to art and studied at City College in New York. He later moved to Baltimore and earned a master's degree at the Maryland Institute, College of Art.
In his student days, he drifted away from Catholicism and "was slow to move back into the church."
When he did return, it was with energy and dedication. He became a cantor at Corpus Christi Church near his home in Bolton Hill. He sang with the folk group, worked on the parish council and was youth minister to college students at the institute.
"I felt a pull to do more," he said.
In 1984, at 34, he entered St. Mary's Seminary and met several men of his age and older who were studying for the priesthood. Age and experience have helped him deal with the demands of his vocation. "I guess I am a less typical priest, but I can relate to people more," he said. "When someone is telling me he doesn't have the rent money, I have been there and I know how he feels."
When he was assigned to St. John, he said, he had reservations about working at one of the largest parishes in the diocese.
"I wondered if I would be lost in a crowd of 3,800 families," he said. "I soon found I was part of the larger family."
The parish is putting his talents to good use. He works on the renovation, maintenance, and art and environment committees, and does all he can "to make the worship environment more meaningful," he said.
"Anything beautiful can be a representation of God."
He sees a strong correlation between his former and present vocations.
"There is spirituality in both," he said. "Art deals with the intuitive, is creative, nonrational."
Of all his parish duties, he finds his work with the terminally ill the most rewarding.
"Death is the ultimate test of faith," he said. "Belief in eternal life is the crux of our faith. When I look at the depth of people's faith, they give me far more than I can give them."
He visits the sick several times a day. He may find himself at a loss for words, but he knows his presence is "just as much a prayer," he said. "I know I have been an instrument of Christ in their lives."