Our friends tell us they’ve heard he’s going somewhere, sometime this summer, and doing something.

Although he’s trying to blend in with the office woodwork and dispensing somewhere-sometime information about his retirement, we’ve come upon some sure facts about his life and plans from Carrol Fisher.

The Rev. Tom Clements will retire from full-time ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte on July 6, when he will move to a fix-up cottage on Lake Norman. He will still be part-time chaplain at the Hefner VA Medical Center here.

Father Tom will immerse himself in reflection and prayer at Lake Norman and spend time at the Trappist Monastery at Moncks Corner, S.C.

But Carrol Fisher thinks the term “fix-up cottage” is an outrageous euphemism. He is praying that Father Tom will be translating his considerable skill in applying scripture to life into applying hammers and wrenches to wood and plumbing.

Charlotte Taylor, who shares Raleigh origins with Father Tom, and Ed Murphy remember his arrival in 1972, his leaving in 1978 and his return 10 years later.

“We have seen, through all these years,” Ed says, “how he would be there for us in all the moments of our special need — baptisms, marriages, children, the passing of dear friends and relatives.”

But Ed won’t ever forget his reaction when he left and came back while the church was in the midst of a major renovation.

Ceiling tiles were down. Wallboard was removed. The old altar was gone. All that was left was dirt and debris and a very old structure.

Father Tom came into the church and looked around.

“What have you done to my church?” he asked.

Throughout his distinguished career, his service has ranged from social-services administrator, parish leader, personnel planning and prison and hospital chaplain, says Charlotte.

He is a dedicated priest and, despite an overload of work, she says, “he has worked hard in God’s vineyard and deserves now to have some time to enjoy God’s world. He cannot be replaced, but we will carry on with all we have learned and work well with his successor.”

An upside of the congregation, she says, is its diversity and ideas of how it should develop. A downside is that it will probably never arrive at “group-think” on any issue.

“But we try, and we have a great deal of energy for treasuring the ultimate unity that springs from our common faith. Occasionally, Father Clements describes his leadership style as it relates to all this energy. ‘I get on my horse,’ he says, ‘and I guide it wherever it’s going.’ ”

Gerri Butler, at 82, still volunteers so many all-night stays at Rowan Helping Ministries’ homeless shelter, she sometimes asks herself where she’s sleeping that night.

“Father Tom,” she says, “never stops calling us to the works of justice and service, but he leaves us to choose the way we serve in terms of our own gifts.” That’s led the congregation to be involved with many other churches in cooperative projects — and “to lasting friendships of mutual respect with members of the other churches as we work together to build up the community by standing with its members most in need.”

Thelma Woodyard remembers working with Meals on Wheels since it started in 1976.

“Like a shepherd leading his flock,” she says, “Father Tom has been teaching us both through his example and through his homilies. He has never stopped emphasizing that we have to express our religion to real people in this real world. We’re on an earth journey, not in a study group. ... Our volunteers are on the lookout for the need for fans in the summer and fuel in the winter, and they are watchful lest homebound citizens become abused. Father Clements has always emphasized the gospel imperative for us to show concrete concern for one another.”

Father Clements has two external ministries that stem from his role as Sacred Heart’s pastor — part-time chaplain at the VA Medical Center who offers Mass with patients and visitors on Saturday evenings; and he conducts services on Sunday evenings at the regional correctional center.

Buddy Denny and Tom Cowan, outpatient veterans at the hospital, say the guys “really love Father. He pays attention to each one ... and will always listen.”

Eric Lawlor, who accompanies him on the prison visits, says he is amazed at how the prison ministry has changed his outlook on faith. Father Tom tells scripture stories, and then they all share.

“Everything he does is an invitation to express faith,” he says, “and I really don’t know how he does it after he’s already offered seven Masses during the weekend. Every Sunday afternoon I really don’t want to get up and go to the prison. But every Sunday night, I’m there again. I really don’t know how Father does that big extra thing on Sunday night!”

Linda Hicks and Barbara Causey treasure the parenting support they and their husbands get from Father Tom. He has always — and emphatically — insisted that the primary catechists of children are their parents, and that the main formation of children’s faith occurs in the family.

“Faith is caught, not taught,” he has said over the years, relating scripture to daily life, explaining how the Bible is alive in today’s world, reminding parents that serving families is the first and foremost commitment in fulfilling Jesus.

And the children will remember Father Tom.

Derek Sjoblom: “I will always remember serving Mass for Father Tom. He used to always tell me, ‘Smile— it only hurts for a minute.’ ”

Hannah Peach: “Father Tom has a smile or compliment for everyone! We had a miracle here once. When Ean Allen hit the back of his head on the floor and was almost dead, he came back to life. That was God’s miracle.”

Ben Peach: “I saw Father Tom do a sort of miracle once. We had a jammed locker at school that absolutely no one could open. He came along and blessed it and reached down and opened that locker!”

Margo Alfieri: “Father Tom blessed me when I was really sick with the flu, and he made me feel 100 percent better.”

Mimi Medrano: “I remember how Father Tom started the ministry for us (Hispanics) right up from nothing. I think that pretty soon we’11 even have youth activities — at least I hope so. I think it takes a special kind of courage to start a brand new thing.”

Reggie Drain: “When Father Tom gave me my First Communion last year, I knew right then that he was one of my best friends.”

Gregory Hicks: “He tells a lot of stories that make all of us laugh, but we get the point.”

Over the years he’s developed themes with his homilies. The phrases carry the messages — “international church,” “priests to one another,” “grace and glory,” “the prodigal son’s father,” “Eucharist is inseparable from hospitality,” “we don’t read about salvation history — we’re in it,” “you don’t need to look for God, you’ve already got all the God you can handle.”

Katherene Kruckel elaborates.

“Father Tom leads by example, as well as through liturgy, homily and personal counsel. He demonstrates his belief that church is more than a building, more than a hierarchy. It is us. ... Over and over he emphasizes that we are to be an open, welcoming community — looking for the Jesus in others and showing them the Jesus in us.”

Father Tom is a gardener, dressed in outfits so grungy his congregation hopes no one stops to take a picture. But last year he produced a May-to-December garden of annuals that got a “Landscape of the Month” award in November.

But maybe a congregation that flowers throughout the year is the biggest award a parish priest can get.

We are a liturgical church. We have rites, symbols and prayers that help us to realize who we are and what we are doing. While theoretically the liturgy speaks for itself, Father Clements creates an atmosphere of warmth and reverence. Our funerals are liturgies that are unforgettable celebrations of a person’s exuberant final shout of “Yes!”to life. We hold a fervent belief that in death, life is not ended, but changed. We stand in awe of our friend who has traveled the earth journey with us and sing one of the ancient Christian hymns as our blessing.

John Brincefield, volunteer music minister at our funerals for many years, reflected on how he has been graced by observing Father Clements serve families in those times of both joy and sadness.

“He has the same complete reverence for everyone whose life we celebrate. We have funerals for homeless persons and for veterans whose families cannot attend, as well as for persons surrounded by large loving families. And in every one he refers in some way to that last great ‘Yes!’ which unites us all. It has been one of the greatest blessing in my own life to sing, on behalf of the entire church, the great final blessing on those who have said, ‘Yes!’ to life.”

But John laughed as he thought about Father’s response to our sharing our memories.

“You know Father Tom is not going to like this one little bit. But that doesn’t matter. It’s his place to listen — and ours to speak.”