News From St Mary and St Joseph Catholic Church

I have to admit that I am a bit at a loss of what to write about this month. I haven't traveled to any distant place on the face of the earth, just to visit my Mom and I need that material for homilies. Nothing really exciting has happened or is on the horizon as being unusually significant. A quick prayer to the Holy Spirit and a piercing look from Gail, our secretary, gave me the inspiration for my article this month.

In the sacristy where I vest for Mass, there is a small book [burgundy colored for 2009] which is called 'The Ordo' or it's full title, 'The Order of Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours and the Celebration of the Eucharist 2009'. This small book is the official Liturgical Calendar of the Church issued each year containing a listing of the Mass to be celebrated each day, with its liturgical rank and color, together with the liturgical rubrics to be observed in the recitation of the Divine Office which each priest is obligated to pray daily. The Ordo also lists on the opposite page a necrology, a list of priests of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and other dioceses of Texas who have died that particular day and the year of that priest's death. The month June has the anniversaries of death of priests that, I think, are important for us to remember.

June 3 [1939].....Rev. George Apel.....Served as the pastor of St. Mary from May 25, 1913 to July 20, 1924. Fr. Apel would have witnessed the total destruction of the 1894 church by fire after the steeple was hit by lightening in July 1917. His name was found over the lintel in the foyer of the church with the inscription of the date the church was rebuilt in September 1917. The window of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the left of the High Altar is also dedicated to him. The window of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is dedicated to his brother.

June 3 [1963].....His Holiness Blessed John XXIII.....Though not a resident pastor of our communities of St. Mary or St. Joseph, His Holiness John XXIII was our universal pastor and a remarkable shepherd of the Church. He called the Second Vatican Council in 1959, three months after being elected Pope. The Council opened on October 11, 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI on December 8, 1965. Much of the interior alteration of our churches were undertaken as a result of a mistaken understanding of the directives of the Council Fathers. The most notable addition was the introduction of another altar in front of the High Altar, with the celebrant facing the people. The most notable alteration would have been removing the communion rail, opening the Sanctuary to the Assembly.

June 5 [1920].....Fr. Joseph I. Klein.....Founding pastor of St. Mary.....July 30, 1894 to March 25, 1907. Fr. Klein, the Uncle of the Grandfather of the Klein family heirs of the large white house across from the church, came from Indiana to establish a parish for the local German and other immigrant population in the area. He can be seen seated in front of his congregation in the 1906 photograph in St. Mary's hall. The intricate wooden canopy containing the Infant of Prague at the rear of St. Mary Church is thought to have been made by him. It was said that he brought his wood working tools with him from Indiana. Fr. Klein left St. Mary to be pastor of the church in Mentz, near Columbus. He also served in Sour Lake, Temple, Beaumont, Burlington and eventually Waco, where he died in the parish rectory of the Church of the Assumption. He was 51. He is buried with his Indiana relatives in North Vernon, Indiana. It is said in his obituary that he "aided with his own hands in the building of the church at that place [Plantersville]
and furnished, from his own private means, some of the money required." It's interesting to note that Fr. Klein was born on September 8, 1867 in North Vernon, Indiana. That the church of Plantersville was named the Church of the Nativity of Mary, the feast day being September 8th, may be Fr. Klein's tribute to Mary and an acknowledgement of his birthday.

There are a few other priests, not associated with either St. Mary or St. Joseph, who have been part of my Priesthood and may be know to some:

June 10 [1959].....Fr. Ralph Diefenbach.....Pastor of St. Theresa in Houston [Memorial Park]....a legend in his own time....Died in a plane crash, while flying his own plane.

June 12 [1985].....Fr. Richard Gieselman....A Vincentian priest and faculty of St. Mary Seminary in Houston from which I was ordained in 1973. He was a teacher of Philosophy. I particularly remember his course of Epistemology, the study of knowledge....What is knowledge? How is it acquired? What do people know? How do we know what we know? Why do we know what we know? He was a small kinda guy, very kind and soft spoken and enjoyed a good debate.

June 18 [1999].....Fr. Lawrence J. Leonard....Another Vincentian priest and faculty of St. Mary Seminary in Houston. He was the Seminary treasurer my first three or four years there. He was known as being very frugal with Seminary funds. He bought from Army surplus. Our Seminary bus was an heirloom from some very distant war. The only saving grace in riding on that bus was that it didn't have the Seminary name emblazoned on it. It caught fire early one morning on our way to the University in heavy traffic on Memorial Drive. It was repaired and returned to service. It was said that he boasted that he could feed a seminarian for six cents a meal. Again, Army surplus. I remember the time the health department of Houston was called out by a departing student. A very unhappy Fr. Leonard hastened to meet them at the door to the refectory, our dining hall. That night we were all given a voucher for food down the street at the Howard Johnson's, I think. Fr. Leonard took his job seriously and made us 'into the men we priests are today'....for the most part, we have iron stomachs.

June 24 [1986].....Fr. Joseph K Schneider.....pastor of St. Ambrose when I was assigned as assistant from 1978-80.....Fr. Schneider was a very kind pastor who unfortunately had every illness known to mankind. He was a severe diabetic. He had a way of insisting with the cook to make him desserts, which she did, I think, to keep her job. I would tell her jokingly that I was going to have her arrested when he died as an accomplice to his death...ha. He had the mangiest looking dog which I didn't appreciate at the time, being a young priest and too caught up with himself. He loved that dog much the same as I do our Bridget today. I can see him smiling in heaven watching me spoiling Bridget much the same as he did his dog and having to put up with my criticism and displeasure. Like they say: what goes around comes around. Fr. Schneider retired in 1979. His little dog had died just a short time before his retirement.

These are just some of the many priests listed in The Ordo for each month. Please keep them and all deceased priests in your prayers. Remember, we don't have children or grandchildren [well, almost most of us...ha] to keep our names in memory and in prayer.