Half A Century

Details: 09 July 2010

Wonderful Thing

For more than a decade I had been assigned, in my younger years as a priest, to work in the Holy See as an official in the Congregation for Catholic Education, from 1969 through 1980. Most of that time was during the very significant pontificate of Pope Paul VI, whose many writings and talks, for that reason, are strongly impressed on my memory. As I personally approach, in these coming days, the 50th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood, and as I thank God in a very special way for the innumerable undeserved and infinitely generous gifts He has bestowed on me in my more than 74 years of life, in the half century of my priestly ministry, and in my more than 18 years as a Bishop, some words of Pope Paul VI come into my mind: “What a wonderful thing it is to be a priest! Experience gained by the vicissitudes of the years increases our sense of the intrinsic relationship between the priesthood and the Lord’s cross. Yet, that never exhausts the priesthood’s beauty and its happiness. Every day, every year, every anniversary renews the enjoyment of that beauty and happiness and brings greater knowledge and inner experience of them to priests. The strength of Christ’s passion and resurrection is in His priests and, therefore, His grace supports them so they always can remain in His love.”

Pope Paul VI said, "A priest’s title makes him both lowly and sublime. He is the vessel of clay that nevertheless contains a treasure of eternity (2 Corinthians 4:7). He is the shepherd of God’s People, the worker of charity, the guardian of orphans and little ones, the advocate of the poor, the consoler of the suffering, the father of souls, the confidant, the counselor, the guide, the friend of all, the man for others, and, if need be, the willing and silent hero. If you look closely at the anonymous countenance of this solitary man with no home of his own, you will see that he is incapable of any love which is merely human, because he has given his heart, without keeping back any portion of it, to that Christ Who gave Himself for him, even to the cross (Galatians 2:20), and to that neighbor whom he has resolved to love to the extent that Christ Himself does (John 13:15). This is the meaning of his intense and happy sacrifice in celibacy. To put it in a single phrase, he, the priest, is another Christ."
My Adventure

As I finished my college seminary work and prepared to graduate from Saint Francis Seminary’s college division with the customary bachelor’s degree in philosophy in the spring of 1957, I was summoned to the office of the Rector, Monsignor Frank Schneider, who told me that Archbishop Albert Meyer (who later become the Cardinal-Archbishop of Chicago) was coming to the seminary on some business and wanted to talk to me, informing me that he had decided that I was to finish my seminary studies in Rome. The Archbishop arrived, gave me $50 for spending money, told me what a privilege it would be to study in the Eternal City, said that he was disappointed to learn that I was ethnically only one quarter German, and informed me that he himself would be in Rome the following October and would then take me into a private audience with Pope Pius XII. So I sailed, business class, on the Giulio Cesare, with another seminarian from Milwaukee (from then on my ever very good friend, now Father Richard Breitbach) and two priests from Milwaukee going for graduate studies in Canon Law. I docked in Naples, and eventually got to Rome. I lived and studied at the Pontifical North American College, with most of the classes and work, however, at the Pontifical Gregorian University (where Latin was the language of instruction and of the administration). Archbishop Meyer was true to his word. The audience with Pope Pius XII was the first that I had with a Pope, little suspecting then that I one day would have similar private audiences with Popes Blessed John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI. At the beginning of my second year of Roman studies (second theology) Pope Pius XII died and Angelo Roncalli (John XXIII) was elected the Bishop of Rome. He was the Pontiff during most of my seminary studies and when I was ordained a priest. His esteem and love of the priesthood and his jolly good nature were a particular inspiration to all of us seminarians in those days, and, of course, we were overwhelmed with happy anticipation when he announced that he was going to summon a new Ecumenical Council, the first since the conclusion of the First Vatican Council in 1870.

Early Ordination

Sometime in 1959, I was called to the office of the Vice Rector of the North American College and told, to my astonishment, that the Rector and faculty had decided that I was to be ordained ahead of my class and that they had procured all the necessary dispensations from the Holy See for this. So I rapidly went up the ladder of Holy Orders. (The ladder has been changed from what it was in those days.) I received holy Tonsure on February 28, 1959, in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, from Cardinal Luigi Traglia, the Vicar General of Rome, then received the Minor Orders of Porter and Lector, on March 14, 1959, in the Church of Saint Marcellus from Archbishop Ettore Cunial, then the Minor Orders of Exorcist and Acolyte on November 29, 1959, from Bishop Cesar Benedetti, in the Church of Saint Teresa, then ordained Subdeacon in the Church of San Andrea della Valle on March 12, 1960, by Bishop Roberto Ronca, ordained a Deacon on May 8, 1960, in the Church of Saint Marcellus, by Archbishop Martin J. O’ Connor, and finally ordained a priest on July 17, 1960, in the Church of the Twelve Apostles (Dodieci Apostoli) by Cardinal Luigi Traglia.

A dear friend of our family, originally from Milwaukee, Cardinal Aloysius Muench, the former Nuncio to West Germany and Bishop of Fargo, was living in Rome in retirement. He honored me by attending my ordination reception and so I had my First Mass at the Motherhouse of the Salvatorian Sisters, where he was residing. My second Mass was in the Chapel of the Popes in the Catacomb of Saint Callixtus next to the tomb of my patron Saint Fabian. He was the 21st Pope, martyred by the Emperor Decius, and the inscription on the slab over his grave says: “Fabianus Episcopus” (Fabian the Bishop). My third Mass was at the Sisters’ Chapel at the College Villa of Santa Catarina. The Superior of the Swiss nuns who worked at the College was Madre Pasquilina, who had been for many years the housekeeper of Pope Pius XII. She wanted me to celebrate Mass wearing his favorite vestments, using his favorite chalice, etc., which, of course, I gladly did.

Before my parents and family members and friends who came to Rome for my ordination returned to the United States (after visits to Spain, France, Belgium, and England) I had the opportunity to celebrate Mass with them at the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul, at Lourdes, at Assisi, and at many other shrines in Italy and western Europe. I remained in Rome for a year after my ordination in order to obtain my Licentiate degree in Sacred Theology, and this also gave me the chance for many beautiful experiences of offering Mass in some of the countless churches and shrines of Rome. It happened fifty years ago! The Italians would say “magari” (wow)! Please pray for me. “What can I offer to the Lord for all that He has given to me?” (Psalm 116:12)