Fr. Ranjan D’Sa is a priest of the Discalced Carmelite Order. He spent ten years, two full terms, as pastor of Saint Dominic Parish in Oakville, Ontario. Starting October 1, he takes up a new post as pastor of St. Gregory the Great Parish in Cambridge, Ontario. In this conversation, he talks about what success has meant to him across that work.
How Do You Personally Define Success?
I don’t measure it by numbers in a pew or dollars in a collection basket. For me, success is whether someone walked out of a conversation with me feeling less alone than when they walked in. I think about the people I visited in hospitals and retirement homes, people who were sick or just lonely. If that visit mattered to them, that’s a successful day. It’s a quiet definition. It doesn’t show up on a report.
Has That Definition Changed Since You Were Ordained?
Yes, quite a bit. When I was younger, newly ordained in Mangalore and then studying at Fordham, I think I measured success the way a student does: grades, degrees, what you can show for your effort. A masters in philosophy, then another in pastoral care and counselling, those felt like success at the time because they were finished and certified. Ten years into pastoral work, I measure it differently. Nobody hands you a certificate for a good homily or a well-run food drive. You just know, or you don’t.
What Does a Successful Parish Fundraiser or Food Drive Actually Look Like to You?
It’s not the total raised. It’s whether the people who needed help that week actually got it. I organized fundraisers for a number of different charities and ran food drives, and the ones I call successful are the ones where the food or the money reached someone before their situation got worse, not after. Timing matters more than the final figure.
You’ve Worked With Youth in Street Ministry. What Does Success Mean There?
Honestly, sometimes it means nothing more than showing up again the next week. Street ministry isn’t a place where you see dramatic turnarounds often. You bring food, you visit the same young people, you keep the door open. If a young person who was avoiding everyone starts asking questions, even difficult ones, I count that as success. It’s slow work.
Does Leaving a Parish After Ten Years Change How You Think About Success?
It does. Completing two terms at Saint Dominic and now moving to St. Gregory the Great in Cambridge forces me to ask what I actually built there that will keep going without me. If the people I worked with, the youth ministry, the food drive volunteers, the ones I visited regularly, can carry on without needing me specifically, that tells me the work was sound. Success that depends entirely on one person isn’t much of a success.
Where Does Your Own Prayer Life Fit Into How You Judge Success?
I spend time in prayer every morning and evening, and I try to make time for meditation when I can. I don’t judge those times by how they feel. Some mornings the prayer is dry and nothing seems to happen. I’ve come to see that as part of it, not a failure of it. Success in prayer, at least for me, is showing up consistently, not having a spiritual experience every time.
Outside of Parish Work, What Would You Call a Successful Day Off?
Something simple. Drawing a picture, working through a jigsaw puzzle, reading a spiritual book that I actually finish instead of just starting. I’ve also led groups on pilgrimages, and those trips succeed when people come back having learned something about the place and about themselves, not just having taken photographs.
If You Had to Sum up Success in One Sentence, What Would It Be?
Success is whether the next person who needed you found you ready.