I had coffee with Barry Lillis at Murphy’s Cafe the other day. Or should I say Father Barry, because he now wears the white collar of an orthodox Catholic priest.
Barry was the weatherman for so many years at Channel 2, and his exuberance in detailing our region’s rollercoaster climate changes endeared him to many local viewers, including me.
Some of us in these parts also know him as one of the reverends of The Wedding Chapel, and have probably seen him in news photos and videos marrying couples in helicopters and in the big air balloon that used to be parked near the Rainbow Mall.
A lot of people don’t know that Barry was born and raised in the falls. His childhood home was right where they built the Seneca casino. Back then he was a bright eyed young altar boy at St. Mary’s, the church that still stands serene and patient adjacent to the vast gambling complex.
Later in his life when Father Barry met Seneca leader Barry Snyder he joked that it was nice of the Senecas to build a shrine on the site where he was born. “A simple plaque would have sufficed,” he chuckled when he recounted the story to me.
I invited him for coffee when we got word at the newspaper that he’s moved back to the area from the Finger Lakes region.
I couldn’t help but think a guy like Barry has something to bring to the community, beyond resuming his duties as a regular chaplain at The Wedding Chapel at the Quality Inn.
Barry, you see, is a showman with a social onscious, his compassion enriched by years facing his own personal demons.
“I was a drunk,” he said with a shrug, recalling how he started drinking at 17 and was an alcoholic by 18, eventually living on Skid Row in New York City, “beat up by the booze.”
In a periods of abstinence, he made his way into television, through small radio stations around the state. He was doing voice-overs in Evanasville Indiana when they plucked him out of the sound booth to replace a suddenly ill weatherman with seconds to airtime. His path eventually led to the weather maps at Channel 2 and an eventual escape from his addiction.
He’s 25 years sober now, to which he folds his hands to God and says, “thank you, thank you, thank you.”
When he retired from television about 15 years ago he started taking classes at the Christ the King Seminary, to become a priest in the Catholic Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church, which dates back to the time of the apostles, allows priests to marry and women to become priests.
“Most of our priests can be found working under a bridges, celebrating masses with people who live in boxes,” he said.
His days are spent working with rehab patients at ECMC and celebrating Sunday mass at the hospital. Ever the showman, he’s not afraid to use his local fame to bring in crowds for the boss.
“It’s been a blessing. I walk into a room and they say, “Hey Barry, what’s the weather,’” and it breaks the ice.
Now that he’s living back in the city, he plans to continue marrying people at The Wedding Chapel at the Quality Hotel, a business he started with Rev. Gerry Fedell in 1995 but left in 1997. Since Fedell passed away two years ago, Father Barry’s been commuting from his home in Cassadagua to help Feddell’s wife Sally with weddings in the city. He made the move back to the city in October and is delighted to be back.
It’s kind of a full circle for the former weatherman who returns to his home town with the same spiritual enthusiasm as a fresh-faced altar boy.
He is a spiritual healer with an open heart and no judgement around those who have fallen because he has fallen himself. And risen. He understands the spiritual benefits of the roller coaster ride of life.
“I’ve probably lost a fortune because of my drinking. But, if I had not drank I would probably have cared less about people having difficulties.”
As such, he’s hoping to lend a hand around here, and a heart as well. In a city where there are never too many helping hands Father Barry has returned with two more.
“I don’t have all the answers,” he said humbly. “But give me a call and I’ll see what I can do.”
Columns
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