www.remaxaboutowne.com Uptown 905.842.7000 Downtown 905.338.9000 From all of us at RE/MAX Aboutowne Thinking of buying or selling a home, call us fi rst! Have a safe and happy holiday weekend! 2011-07-2 9 Aboutowne Realty Corp., Brokerage Independently owned and operated 3 Frid ay, Ju ly 29, 2011 O A K V ILLE B E A V E R w w w .in sid eH A LTO N .co m By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Father Rev. Peter Watters, 82, hasspent nearly 30 years serving the area as a Roman Catholic priest and more than 50 years helping others and himself stay sober. Now, hes moving onto a new home with new tasks as hes retiring from St. Andrew Roman Catholic Church in downtown Oakville. I have mixed feelings, he said. I think I should have retired a long time ago. I think its time I stepped down and took some time for myself. However, though hes retiring, hes not leaving his ministerial or addiction counsel- ling duties behind, as he plans to continue the work in his new home of Trafalgar Lodge retirement residence. I have a great privilege. Im going to cel- ebrate mass at the lodge every Sunday at 10:30 (a.m.). Im not divorcing myself com- pletely from church activities. I will be divorc- ing myself from the parish activities at St. Andrew, he said. I think its wonderful for the residents. Hell also continue to provide counselling and support to people who need it. Over the years Ive done an incredible amount of counselling, especially on addic- tions of all sorts: alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling and so on, he said. Ill have my own quarters there and Ill be able to talk to people who come and see me. Watters will move into his new home on Monday, Aug. 1. His last day at the church, on Sunday, July 31, will be celebrated by the people whose lives hes touched. The church is hosting an open house at the parish centre from 2 to 4 p.m., which Watters says everyone is invited to. Furthermore, he will conduct every mass at the church that day. Watters lived in Oakville nearly his entire life, moving here in 1940 at the age of 12. Walking along the main street, I see all the changes that have taken place over the last 70 years, he said, mainly referring to develop- ment. He said at the time he moved to Oakville the Queen Elizabeth Way had just opened and the Second World War had just begun. A lot of things changed, he said. The devel- opment really came after the Ford announce- ment. Prior to that Oakville was small. Watters himself went through some changes in his life as well. He had an alcohol addiction and this year he celebrated 50 years of being sober. He comes from a poor family and was forced to drop out of school in Grade 8 to find work. He started drinking at 14 and in his 30s had lost a business to booze. It was in a Toronto jail that he turned to God for help at the age of 32. He dropped down on his knees and prayed. He then began going to Alcoholics Anonymous, which he continues to do to this day. I celebrated 50 years, he said. Fifty years and Im still active. I wouldnt trade that for anything else. Thats an important part of my life. He not only attends the meetings, but has become a leader in the organization. Hes traveled around the world through AA and has become known for his leadership role, in which he helped hundreds, if not thousands, of people. He then began to rebuild his life. He started a profitable business, producing a reli- gious reader. He was elected an Oakville town councillor and then became the first chair of the Halton Catholic District School Board. However, the prosperity put him at risk of relapse, Watters said previously. He also won- dered if he was doing enough with his life. In 1978, he made a big change. He gave away his business and home and entered the seminary at age 50. He was ordained four years later. Since then, hes served as pastor of several parishes in the Diocese of Hamilton. In 2002, he was awarded the Caring Canada Award from former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. In 2001 he moved to St. Andrew church in Oakville, to what he called a quasi-retire- ment. It was my intention when I moved from Rockwood, the last parish I was pastor of, I came to Oakville with the idea that I would retire, he said. That got changed in the pro- cess and I became an associate at St. Andrew for the last 10 years. Now, hes moving on to Trafalgar Lodge, which he says is a good location where he will be close to people he knows and relatives. St. Andrew pastor, Rev. Dr. Peter Coughlin said Watters will be missed by many people. Many will miss him particularly because hes always at the back of the church greeting people before services and he always made big fuss with young children and he was also a story teller. Every homily he ended with a joke," Coughlin said. "He worked a lot with the Alcoholics Anonymous movement and that was his major work. And he helped in the parish for the last nine and a half years. The church is located at 47 Reynolds St. Father Watters has helped many, even himself KAZ NOVAK /THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR A CHANGE OF PACE: Father Peter Watters, 82, is celebrating 30 years as a priest and 50 years of sobriety as he moves on from St. Andrew's Church to a more relaxed pace. An open house will be held Sunday, July 31 at St. Andrew's Parish Centre from 2-4 p.m. The church is located at 47 Reynolds St.