New Pastor At Immaculate Conception

The parish of Immaculate Conception in Hoosick Falls warmly welcomes Rev. Thomas Zelker to our community as our newly appointed Pastor. Bishop Howard J. Hubbard recently made this announcement after several weeks of prayerful contemplation.
Fr. Zelker comes to us from St. Mary’s Church in Granville where he has been the resident pastor for over 17 years.  While in Granville, Fr. Tom served as the priest in St. Frances Cabrini Church in West Pawlet, VT,  and at the Washington Correction Facility in Comstock, NY. He was the Bishop’s representative as Dean for Washington and Warren Counties. Tom is the son of John and Jennie Zelker and brother of Barbara, growing up in Glenmont, Town of Bethlehem, just south of Albany. He is a graduate of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, wrote a book on forest fires for the U.S. Forest Service and worked as Albany’s first watershed forest manager for three years before going to the seminary at Theological College, Catholic University of America in Washington. Since his ordination to the priesthood in 1983, he has served at Blessed Sacrament, Albany, St. John the Evangelist, Schenectady, St. Vincent’s, Cobleskill, Summit Shock Facility, Summit, SUNY Cobleskill, St. John’s, Valatie, and St. Catherine of Siena, Albany.
After work, he enjoys canoeing, whitewater rafting, caving, hiking, fishing, gardening and watching old movies … especially Jimmy Cagney, Mel Brooks and Mystery Science Theater. He’s happy to be coming to the Hoosic and Walloomsac Valley.
Fr. Zelker’s first Daily Mass will be Tuesday, August 3, at 8 am; his first Vigil Mass will be Saturday, August 7, at 4 pm, and his first Sunday Mass will be August 8, at 9 am.  Following the 9 am Mass, the Parish invites you to help us welcome Fr. Zelker with a reception in the Church hall, sponsored by the Parish.
The Parish would also like to thank Rev. Joseph Barker, a retired Albany Diocesan Priest, for his many weeks of presiding at Mass, Funeral Masses, Holy Day Masses and visits to The Danforth Adult Home and the Hoosick Falls Health Center.  His presence in our Parish over the last several weeks and months has provided us with a sense of continuity and trust in a time of unbalance and a sense of being adrift.  May God Bless You and Thank you Fr. Barker!