May 23, 2025 — (Wilmington, Delaware) — A new video containing interviews with two retired priests and one retired bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington has debuted on the diocesan YouTube channel, YouTube.com/DioceseofWilm. The video features Rev. William Melnick, Rev. Charles Dillingham and Most Rev. W. Francis Malooly, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Wilmington. The video was produced by the diocesan Office of Communications to highlight the hard work of retired priests and to promote the special collection to benefit the Diocesan Priests’ Retirement Fund that is held in all Catholic Churches in Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore each year. This year it happens the weekend of June 7 & 8.
“When I say the term ‘retired priest’ I am tempted to use air-quotes,” said Bob Krebs, Director of the Office of Communications for the Diocese of Wilmington. “Many of our retired priests work very hard and are still active in ministry well into their seventies and eighties. Fathers Melnick and Dillingham and Bishop Malooly are perfect examples of this.”
With charm and wit, the three subjects of the video, who have over 150 years of combined priestly experience, talk about their childhood, vocational calling, parish and administrative ministry and what they are doing now that they are older.
This production is the third in a series of popular videos that highlight the work of retired priests in the Diocese of Wilmington. The first video debuted in 2015 and features Fr. Ray Forester, Msgr. Dan McGlynn (who died January 1, 2024), Fr. Len Kempski and Fr. Ed Storck (who passed away on June 12, 2017). The second video from 2017 contains interviews with Fr. Dan Gerres (died March 25, 2024), Msgr. Charles Brown, and Fr. Ed Aigner (died April 1, 2023) All three videos are available on the diocesan YouTube Channel and at cdow.org/PriestRetirementFund.
