SANDPOINT — St. Joseph’s Catholic Church members are saying goodbye this week to their beloved priest, Father Dennis Day, who has served parishioners in Sandpoint for the past 24 years. At age 70, the priest is retiring and moving back to his hometown of Boise.

Father Day, busy with two weddings, many Masses, and overseeing seminarians packing up his possessions during the past two days, was unavailable for comment. He was quoted in the Idaho Catholic Register as saying, “I have formed closer friendships here (in Sandpoint) than anywhere.”

It is unusual for a priest to stay in one location as long as Father Day has done. It might be Sandpoint’s remote location, he speculated in the Register, and the fact he supervised the construction of a new church, referred lovingly by some as “the cathedral of North Idaho,” at the cost of $8.5 million. This may have been the reason bishops kept him in Sandpoint, Father Day surmised. And now, 11 years since its dedication in March, 2009, the debt is nearly gone; the Catholic community owes less than $500,000.

Father Day’s legacy is not just the building, though it is a grand sacred space. His legacy is connected to the most important events in the lives of his parishioners — spiritual advisement, funerals of loved ones, and he has officiated at hundreds of joyful milestone celebrations such as weddings and christenings.

“I love Father Day,” said Frank Cafferty. “He is dear to a lot of hearts. He is strict in his views and he stands for what he believes. My good friend, Jim Lippi, had a close connection to Father Day; he provided a blessed send off for him. He has so much compassion. If I was critically ill, Father Day is who I would want standing with me, he said.

“Father Day gave tremendous sermons. He has an ability to organize his thoughts and to express them succinctly, all tied to scripture,” Cafferty said.

Cafferty’s 94-year-old mother, Rita Beehler, agrees. “I’m sorry to see him leave. He’s been very good for our parish. He’s friendly and a kind person,” she said.

“Father Day holds a special place in my heart. I attended the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults with Lasean Driggs and Father Day. With Father Day’s help, I was baptized, confirmed, and married. When my husband and I were dating, we went to church and took my husband Dick’s two children,” said Laura Ahlers.

“I’m certainly going to miss him,” said Penny Armstrong, who reads the “Prayers of the People” three times per week at Mass.

“I started sitting in the back at Masses about 15 years ago, and one time I went to my car and Father Day was standing by it. He asked me if I wanted to come to his office. He put his clerical collar back on and asked me to make my confession. I said, ‘I haven’t been to church in 40 years,’ she said.

“I went back because of him. Not only is he my priest, but a dear friend and an excellent homilist, the best I’ve ever heard.”

Armstrong said occasionally she has started reading the Prayers of the People before he has read the passages of scripture, which is not the right order. “He’d tease me and ask if it was okay if he did his part first.” Armstrong and several others confirmed the priest’s fun-loving sense of humor.

“Every week he’d ask me, ‘Penny, how are you?’ and I would say something very boring such as ‘Fine.’ I eventually answered him this way: ‘Practically perfect in every way,’ and for me, he is the perfect priest in every way,” Armstrong said.

The community of believers at “St. Joe’s” held a retirement party for Father Day after an evening Mass with attending priests, deacons, and seminarians. The homily was delivered by his close friend, Father Tim Ritchey, pastor at St. George’s Parish in Post Falls.

Some 300 people attended to show their appreciation and to share experiences they’d had with Father Day over the years.

Father Day was ordained June 2, 1976, at St. Mary’s Church in Boise. He served as associate pastor at Sacred Heart Church in Boise; associate pastor at St. Mark’s Church in Boise; pastor of the Sacred Heart Church in Emmett; and in 1986 became president of Bishop Kelly High School in Boise. In 1988, he was pastor at St. Matthew’s Church in Eagle before coming to St. Joseph’s Church in Sandpoint, and Sacred Heart Church in Clark Fork in June 1996, totaling 44 years in service to the diocese.

Father Day was strict about no cellphones in services, and he always went out of the service first in order to greet and to shake hands and to give hugs to the parishioners on their way out. And now he is saying goodbye to his role as priest in the lives of his beloved parishioners one last time.

Susan Drinkard writes features for the Daily Bee. She can be reached at susanadiana@icloud.com.