Three decades in a single assignment is unusual. Three decades as a hospital chaplain in a large urban hospital is rare. Father Richard W. Visbisky served for three decades -- Oct. 1, 1995, to Oct. 1, 2025 -- as chaplain at Good Samaritan Medical Center, Brockton. Archbishop Richard G. Henning granted him senior priest retirement status on that 30th anniversary date.

He was born in Scranton, Penn., on April 14, 1937, son of the late Walter and Pearl (Shargay) Visbisky. He has two sisters: Antoinette Piotti and Michal Farrar. The family moved to the archdiocese and Father Visbisky prepared for ordination at St. John Seminary.

A member of the Class of 1962, he was ordained to the priesthood on Feb. 2, 1962, at St. Stephen Church, Framingham, by Auxiliary Bishop Eric F. MacKenzie. There were 48 ordained that day at the four separate ordination Masses. Five, including Father Visbisky, at Framingham; eight at St. Catherine of Siena Church, Norwood, by Auxiliary Bishop Jeremiah F. Minihan; six at St. Margaret of Scotland Church, Lowell; and 29 at Holy Cross Cathedral by Richard Cardinal Cushing.

From ordination until his 1995 appointment as hospital chaplain, he served in parish assignments. Holy Trinity (Polish), Lowell, (1962-1964); briefly at St. Hedwig (Polish) Parish, Cambridge, before an appointment in 1964 as an assistant at St. Michael Parish, North Andover, serving there for 12 years.

Obviously, at home in the Merrimack Valley, he was named an associate at St. Rita Parish in neighboring Lowell in 1976, where he remained until 1984.

In 1984, then-archdiocesan administrator Bishop Thomas V. Daily named him administrator of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Shirley. He was administrator of the parish for eight years before Bernard Cardinal Law named him pastor of the parish. His assignment in Shirley ended in 1994, and Cardinal Law then appointed him as chaplain in Brockton, Oct. 1, 1995.

Hospital chaplaincy is both a rewarding and challenging assignment. Your first responsibility is to the patients, then their families, and not to be forgotten -- the medical professional staff. Since this is a full-time assignment, a chaplain is usually on call 24 hours a day, and for at least five or six days a week, relying on local parishes to substitute and give you a free day and vacation. This means that you are also serving the nearby parishes by being present to parishioners immediately and allowing pastors to more easily plan visits to their hospitalized parishioners.

Father Visbisky accepted this assignment at age 58. More often, a chaplain is going to a parish, likely as pastor at the age. And he remained in this assignment until 88, well past the customary retirement age of 75 for most priests.

During the 30 years of chaplaincy, he was a constant presence and priestly comfort to the sick. He must have been known, and well known, to several generations of hospital staff and much appreciated by brother priests.