The Schwaners-Saints Under Construction

Tom and Janet Schwaner both had impressive professional and spiritual resumes when they joined Mary, Queen of Peace Parish in 2006.
Tom had spent decades as a coach and educator at both the high school and collegiate level. Janet had a career of similar length as a labor and delivery nurse.

While living in Metairie years ago, they were part of a team of parishioners that helped build St. Clement of Rome Church on West Esplanade. Once the church was built, Tom became a lector and a School Board member while Janet was a eucharistic minister who brought communion to patients at East Jefferson Hospital.

After Hurricane Katrina flooded their home, they moved to the north shore with an eye toward throttling back a bit. Tom had been in the spotlight as the head baseball coach at both Rummel High School and UNO. He had been part of what was known as the “alligator squad” at St. Clement, parishioners who had thick skin and wouldn’t be dismayed by having the door slammed in their faces when they knocked to collect money for the church building project.

And, coaching baseball also required thick skin, especially
at the college level where Tom worked for 14 years.

“After being in the public eye for 40 years, coaching and listening to what I did wrong, and did wrong again – that’s what fans do – I wanted to come over here and be anonymous,” Tom said. “I wasn’t motivated to do anything but remain anonymous.”

But apparently God had other ideas. 

A MQP parishioner who knew Tom from St. Clement convinced him to reprise his role as a lector here. “That led to visibility,” he said. “Then people found out I was a coach and that led to Eucharistic ministry which led to prison ministry.”

Now, Tom and Janet attend Mass on most days and have their hands in numerous ministries.
“The motivation was not self-inflicted,” Tom said of his involvement. “It was the fact that I couldn’t say no.” Janet, meanwhile, began bringing Communion to patients at Lakeview Regional Hospital and signed up for what is now the hospitality ministry. She and Tom also participate in Young at Heart activities as MQP.

A few years ago, Tom and Janet started organizing “oldies” dances at the church. That endeavor has since moved on to a hall in Old Mandeville.

Janet said coming into the parish after the Katrina made it easy to forge spiritually-based friendships because so many people had been uprooted by the storm and had landed in an unfamiliar place. They found both God and friendships at MQP.

“Everyone wanted to meet new people because we were all lost in one way or another,” she said. 

Tom, who in the 1960s played four seasons of minor league baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals organization and taught mathematics at UNO after his coaching career, said he feels blessed that his professional life dovetailed nicely with his spiritualty.

The cradle Catholic Schwaners, who will celebrate 65 years of marriage later this year, say they have no regrets about abandoning the notion of anonymity at MQP.

“This is a great parish to undertake the goal of becoming more spiritual and developing a spiritual connection to others,” Tom said. “Our experience here has expanded that feeling of belonging, of contributing… It has enhanced our lives from a social point of view, but most importantly, from a spiritual point of view.”