SPENCERPORT, NY—Voicing criticism of the man’s general demeanor and the hurried pace of his masses, local grandmother and St. Rafael Catholic Church parishioner Patricia Trudel, 72, told reporters Friday she doesn’t care much for the congregation’s new priest. “He’s fine, but his services just aren’t as good as Father Thomas’,” said Trudel, who described the new priest’s homilies as “okay,” but noted that they lacked the warm tone and regular use of humor of the parish’s previous pastor. “He also doesn’t stay around very long after mass and talk with me and [husband] Richard like Father Thomas did. You don’t get to know all the families by shaking hands for only a few minutes; you stick around in the lobby or out on the front steps with everyone. Hopefully he’ll settle in, but I don’t know.” Trudel added that while she would “reserve [her] judgment,” she didn’t even want to think about what the new priest’s Christmas Mass would be like.

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