50 Years of Priestly Service

Balke-Victor-Bishop.jpgBishop Victor H. Balke

Celebrating a golden jubilee this year is Bishop Victor Balke, a Springfield diocesan priest who retired last September, after serving over 31 years as bishop of the Diocese of Crookston, Minn. At the time of his retirement, Bishop Balke was the longest serving head of a U.S. diocese.

During his tenure as bishop, Bishop Balke served two three-year terms on the administrative committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, served on several other USCCB committees, and is a past chairman of the American Board of Catholic Missions, which is now known as the Committee on the Home Missions.

He was rector at the Immaculate Conception Seminary at Lake Springfield in 1976, when the Holy Father named him the sixth bishop of Crookston.

A native of Meppen, in southern Calhoun County, Bishop Balke is the son of the late Ben and Elizabeth Balke. He attended St. Joseph Grade School and Hardin Community High School. He spent a year studying for the priesthood at St. Henry's Preparatory Seminary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Belleville before transferring to the Springfield diocese's Latin School in New Berlin, where he studied for two years. From there he went on to study theology at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein.

He was ordained May 24, 1958, by Bishop William A. O'Connor at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield, and his first assignment was as an associate pastor at the Cathedral Parish, and chaplain at St. Joseph's Home.

When Bishop O'Connor needed an English instructor at the diocesan seminary, he asked Father Balke to return to college to study English, which he did, earning his master's degree in English at St. Louis University, and eventually his Ph.D. He taught rhetoric, literature and Latin at the diocesan seminary, and in 1970 was appointed its rector. In 1974 he was named a monsignor, and two years later Pope Paul VI named him bishop of Crookston.

In his diocese, which covers 14 counties in the northwest corner of Minnesota, Bishop Balke continued the renewal called for by the Second Vatican Council, and encouraged the evangelization movements of Teens Encounter Christ, Cursillo, Koinonia and Marriage Encounter. He reorganized the central administration of the diocese, implemented the 1983 Code of Canon Law and codified diocesan policies, encouraged renovation and building improvement in almost every parish, established an adequate retirement program for elderly clergy and a benefit program for all clergy and laity employed by the church in the diocese.

When he retired, he moved to the southern edge of his diocese, to Moorhead, where he lives in a townhouse and helps out at St. Joseph Parish. "They keep me busy enough so I'm relaxed and at the same time not bored," says Bishop Balke. Moorhead is just across the Red River from Fargo, N.D. "You never get used to this weather in the winter," he says. But in his 31 years in the diocese, only once did a planned event have to be cancelled in the winter due to a big snowstorm. "Once in a great while, if a storm is brewing, pastors will have them announce on the news the weekend Masses are cancelled. But it isn't that common. There are always some people who can get there."

Vocations are "slim" in his diocese, he says. "It is a challenge everywhere," he says. "There are so many distractions out there for our young people. The world does have its allurements. Too many of our young people fall prey and are not as deeply spiritual as we wish. But we do have a very, very strong TEC program in the diocese, and a lot of our youth have gone through that. We have a very wonderful youth ministry, with junior high and high school rallies. We are doing a good ministry of reaching out to them, and we do get responses. If we could get two ordained a year it would be very, very nice."

He still has family members in the Springfield diocese - two brothers live in Alton, a sister lives in Jerseyville. Another brother, who lived in Jacksonville, is deceased. His twin brother lives in Colorado Springs.

Bishop Balke is coming back in May for the jubilee celebration with Bishop George J. Lucas and priests in the Springfield diocese. "I want to express my appreciation to the diocese of Springfield for all that it has done for me and to Bishop Lucas, who is very, very kind in welcoming me back. I'm looking forward to joining my classmates to celebrate our jubilee."

He has a special connection with the diocese's silver jubilarians. Just weeks before their ordination, Bishop Joseph A. McNicholas died suddenly, and Bishop Daniel L. Ryan had yet to be named the new bishop. Special permission was obtained through the pro-nuncio in Washington, D.C., for the diocese's native son bishop, Bishop Balke, to ordain the class of 1983 diocesan priests.

- By Cathy Locher

Gallenbach-Thomas.jpg Father Thomas Gallenbach

Nevada is home for Father Thomas Gallenbach, a Springfield diocesan priest, who is celebrating his 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. Father Gallenbach serves as an associate pastor at St. Joseph, Husband of Mary Parish, in Las Vegas. He moved to Nevada in 1993, when he retired from the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a military chaplain for over 30 years.

"I was stationed in Nevada in 1970, and I liked its weather. As a kid growing up in Decatur, I was asthmatic. So when I retired, I decided to move to a dry climate to live."

Like four others in his 1958 ordination class, Father Gallenbach came from St. James Parish in Decatur, where he went to the parish school and then on to St. Teresa High School. Father John Sohm at St. Columcille in Sullivan, was his classmate at St. James, and at St. Teresa, as were Father Robert Rebert and Father David Munn, both of whom are deceased. Another ordination classmate who was two years ahead of them at St. James and at St. Teresa, was Father William Kekeisen. Ordination classmate, Father David Peters, who was a member of their St. Teresa High School class of 1950, came from St. Thomas Parish.

"We also had some girls in our class at St. James and at St. Teresa who became religious sisters," says Father Gallenbach. "I've often wondered about what it was, that there happened to be so many of us from the same class who became priests and religious sisters," says Father Gallenbach. "I think it was the whole atmosphere back then. The church was the center of our lives - the social life, the intellectual life. The priests were our heroes and they had a great influence on us, as did our family and home life."

Because there were so many from Decatur in 1950 who entered the seminary, several of the seminarians, including Father Gallenbach, were sent to study theology at St. James Seminary in Little Rock, Ark., rather than to the Springfield diocesan Latin School in New Berlin.

Father Gallenbach was ordained May 24, 1958 by Bishop William A. O'Connor at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield. His first assignment was as an assistant at St. Mary Church in Alton under Msgr. James Suddes where he served for two years. He then served for two years at Sacred Heart Parish in Springfield under Father John Brockmeier.

Father Gallenbach was interested in joining the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle in Central America. But when he wrote Bishop William O'Connor about volunteering there, the bishop told him he needed someone to go into the military chaplaincy. The Vietnam action was just beginning in '63, and Cardinal Spellman of New York, who was head of military chaplains, was asking all the bishops for volunteers.

"My appointment with Bishop O'Connor was at 11:30 in the morning," says Father Gallenbach. "When I agreed to become a military chaplain, which was a four-year commitment, the bishop asked me which branch I wanted to join. I told him I didn't know, then left the cathedral and walked down to the U.S. Post Office." It was high noon, Father Gallenbach says. The Army and Navy recruiters were out to lunch; the only one there was the Air Force recruiter.

Father Gallenbach was 31 when he entered the service. He retired from the Air Force at age 61, after serving all over the world -- in Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand and in the Pacific.

"As a chaplain, you might find yourself in some unusual circumstances - in the middle of a field hearing confessions, or saying Mass. But being a chaplain is doing parish work 90 percent of the time. People are the same all over the world. They have a need for God, for seeing the spiritual, seeing that which materialism can't satisfy."

He says military families are very strong. "They are very close to their chapel or to their church. But they are under a lot of stress today, because spouses are deployed for such a long time."

As long as he has his health, Father Gallenbach says he has no plans to retire. "I'm thankful for my calling, and grateful for my health to be able to maintain my work."

- By Cathy Locher

Kekeisen-William.jpg Father William E. Kekeisen

Father William E. Kekeisen will celebrate 50 years in the priesthood later this month. He was ordained by Bishop William A. O'Connor at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on May 24, 1958.

A member of St. James Parish in Decatur, Father Kekeisen was ordained with seven other young men - four who also were from St. James. "Our parish priest was Msgr. (Fred W.) Klasner," he says. "I remember we got quite a bit of publicity at that time."  

As a boy, Father Kekeisen attended St. James Grade School and St. Teresa High School. He was the oldest of five children and now has a number of nieces and nephews. Looking back on his teenage years, he says Father Bill Hamilton, who was full-time chaplain at St. Teresa High School, was a great influence on the school's students. "He was a good priest and really did a lot to foster vocations," he says.

"He was always very open and very encouraging. He lived there and when you wanted to talk he would give you a Coke and just listen," says Father Kekeisen, who also had an uncle who was a priest. "Not only were there a lot of the boys who entered the priesthood, but there were a number of girls who entered the convent."

Father Kekeisen says he didn't always intend to be a diocesan priest. He studied with the Benedictines at St. Meinrad's Minor Seminary for two years and then decided against continuing his schooling there. "I quit and came home," he remembers. "But then Bishop O'Connor invited me to come to Springfield. It worked out great. I'm glad it happened."

During his nearly 40 years as a priest working in the Springfield diocese, Father Kekeisen held a number of assignments. He served as an assistant at St. Boniface in Quincy, 1958-1962; Cathedral in Springfield, 1962-1965; St. Bernard in Wood River, 1965-1969 and Holy Family in Decatur, 1969-1971. He was pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace in Bethalto from 1971-1985; St. Boniface in Edwardsville from 1985-1989; and Holy Trinity in Mount Olive from 1989-1991. Additionally, he was parochial administrator of Mother of Dolors in Vandalia and chaplain for Vandalia Correctional Center in 1989.  His last assignment in this diocese was pastor of St. Francis Xavier, Jerseyville from 1991-1997.

Father Kekeisen retired about 10 years ago and moved to Venice, Fla. He lives in his own condominium and ministers at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and several other area churches. "We have the big crowds here ‘in season' when people come to live here from after Christmas until May," he says, noting as many as 200 people often attend daily Mass. "We have people from all over. It is really interesting."

The parishioners at Our Lady of Lourdes held a celebration for Father Kekeisen on Sunday, April 13. He also looks forward to returning to central Illinois to gather with Bishop George J. Lucas, his fellow jubilarians and brother priests at St. Joseph Church in Chatham on Tuesday, May 6.

 - By Diane Schlindwein

Fr-Meehling.jpg Father Donald J. Meehling

"I delight and rejoice in 50 glorious and wonderful years in priestly service," says Father Donald Meehling of his upcoming golden jubilee celebration on May 24.

Father Meehling entered the seminary right out of high school and says he considers his years in the seminary a very special gift. "One of the greatest gifts in my life is the fact that I was presented with eight years - a ‘pure gift' - during which time I had no other responsibilities except to study and to pray. Where else on this earth is anybody else granted such a wonderful gift?"

Since his ordination, Father Meehling has served in 18 locations within the diocese. "I was kind of a pinch hitter in a few of those places, with several of those assignments being brief," he explains. His longer assignments included assistant at Ss. Peter and Paul, Alton, 1958-1961; St. Thomas, Decatur, 1961-1965; St. Anthony of Padua, Effingham, 1965-1967 and Ss. Peter and Paul, Collinsville 1967-1968.

He was parochial administrator of St. Norbert, Hardin and Mother of Dolors, Vandalia, in the late 1960s. He was parochial administrator and later pastor of St. Thomas, Newton, 1969-1972. He was back at St. Anthony of Padua as co-administrator from 1972-1976. As pastor, he served at St. Mary, Paris, 1976-1979; St. Patrick, Decatur, 1979-1985; St. Margaret Mary, Granite City, 1985-1989; and Christ the King, Springfield, 1989-1996. He served as diocesan coordinator of the Priests Retirement and Health Care Fund Drive from 1996-1997. He also has happy memories of his sabbatical to Rome in 1988.

For the past 12 years Father Meehling has been serving as parochial vicar of St. Aloysius in Springfield. He is a frequent contributor to Catholic Times in a column called "Meanderings of Heart and Mind." He looks forward to celebrating with the parishioners at St. Aloysius and other friends on May 25 with an 11:30 a.m. Mass at his parish, followed by a reception.

"I have always considered my most important duties to share the word and sacraments with the faithful," he says. "I have viewed the priesthood as a transcendent - I like that word, transcendent - role for the benefit of all of humanity.

"I define a priest as a man taken from among men, ordained in the things that pertain to God for the benefit of all humanity. On a lighter note, I think the priest is the man who celebrates life at all the high points and low points and in-between points of our life, birth and baptism, marriage and funeral - standing alongside God's faithful, bearing witness to his presence in their lives."

Father Meehling feels sharing the sacrament of reconciliation and preparing people "for passing into eternal life" are especially important and fulfilling to him as a priest. "Those two opportunities I would never leave unfulfilled as long as it is within my ability to reach them.

"Some of the sadnesses have been what appeared to be rejection of God's grace," he says. "But I am comforted that I can leave that to God's judgment and not necessarily to my own."

Father Meehling says, "The fraternity of the priesthood has always been a great consolation to me throughout these 50 years." He views his role as "one of cooperation with other priests in the diocese and assisting the bishop, the first pastor of the diocese, to carry out his function. It is our role to collaborate and to assist in so far as possible in that regard."

As a diocesan priest, Father Meehling has seen much happiness, but he has also witnessed much suffering. "But I truly believe that if you've got your act together with God you can handle anything else," he says. "It is through suffering that most of us find salvation, accepting the cross and standing alongside it bravely."

- By Diane Schlindwein

Fr-Peters.jpg Father David L. Peters

Father David Peters will never forget his 26th birthday because that was the day he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.

It was May 24, 1958, when he and seven other young men were ordained at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception by Bishop William A. O'Connor. "I was from St. Thomas, while most of them were from St. James. Six out of the eight of us were from Decatur," Father Peters remembers. "Most of us were classmates who graduated together from St. Teresa High School, so we had known each other for years."

Although they are living in different areas now, Father Peters says he likes to keep in touch with the surviving members of his ordination class. "We traditionally have a telephone conference call early on the morning of our anniversary," he says. "This year it will be on a Saturday and I plan to go to the ordination (of Deacon Kevin Muniz) that day."

As a newly ordained priest, Father Peters' first assignment was at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Springfield. He was an assistant at that parish from 1958-1962 and at St. Patrick, Alton from 1962-1966. From 1966-1972, he was assistant chaplain and then chaplain at St. John's Hospital, Springfield. He was co-administrator at St. Anthony of Padua, Effingham from 1972-1976.

As a pastor, Father Peters served at St. Michael in Staunton, 1976-1979; St. Bernard in Wood River, 1979-1987; St. James in St. Jacob from 1987-1988 and at St. Paul, Highland from 1987-2007. He retired in 2007, but remains associate vicar for retired priests, a position he has held since 2004.   

When he retired, Father Peters decided to live in the town where he had ministered for his last two decades in the active priesthood. "Good grief! I've been here 21 years. Where else would I go? Now I help out whenever there's need," he says, noting that he will celebrate with the people at St. Paul in Highland on Sunday, June 1. "I'm not out looking for work - enough of it will come to me."

His retirement is a fairly busy one, Father Peters says. "I've traveled a little and I keep in touch with the priests around the diocese.  I play golf and I'm active in the Rotary Club. I've already been to a ball game at St. Louis."

Now that he's nearing his 76th birthday, Father Peters can't help but look back at the past 50 years in wonder. "I feel like, ‘My God, I've made it!' Also, I have met so many wonderful people through the years.

 "I am basically grateful to God. I'm glad to be alive at 75 and still be a priest," he concludes. "Mostly I'm grateful to have had God's help and grace."

- By Diane Schlindwein

Fr.-Prendiville.jpg Father Eugene Prendiville, OMI

Father Eugene Prendiville, OMI, sacramental priest at St. Mary and St. Mark Parish in Madison will celebrate his golden jubilee with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate on Sept. 8. In 1958, it was just one week after his 26th birthday when Father Prendiville was ordained at Pine Hills Seminary in Pass Christian, Miss., by Bishop Richard Gerow. There were 13 men in his ordination class.

Although many young men of his generation entered the seminary just out of high school, Father Prendiville waited just a while. After attending college for two years, he approached a diocesan priest to discuss the priesthood. "We talked about whether I wanted to be a religious priest or a diocesan priest. I thought I would like the companionship of a religious order," he says, explaining that he first learned about the Oblates through their magazine.

After a year of additional study, Father Prendiville's first assignment as a young priest was serving as assistant parochial vicar in Hanami City, Kyushu, Japan. He subsequently served at Assumption Parish in Richfield, Minn. He has also served as chaplain in a couple of hospitals.

However, nearly three decades of Father Prendiville's years in ministry were spent serving as a chaplain for Lincoln Developmental Center in Lincoln.  For several years Father Prendiville lived at the Little Flower Parish rectory in Springfield but later moved into his own apartment. When Lincoln Developmental Center closed in 2002, Father Prendiville served as parochial vicar at Precious Blood Parish in Chicago and then at St. Leo's Parish in Ava, Mo.

He moved to St. Henry's Oblate Residence in Belleville in 2005, but in 2006 Father Prendiville decided he really "wasn't quite ready for retirement" and began looking for a new assignment.  "Then this opened up, thank heavens," he says of his ministry at St. Mary and St. Mark Parish. "But as a sacramental priest, I guess you could say I am semi-retired." He is also active with the Knights of Columbus.

Father Prendiville will celebrate with the Oblates on Sept. 8 at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine in Belleville. He'll also be celebrating with the parishioners in Madison at some future date.

Like so many priests, Father Prendiville thinks it is important to promote vocations to the priesthood. "The young people should become priests," he says. "It is a good life for someone who is well-suited for the priesthood. It has been a good life for me."

- By Diane Schlindwein

Fr.-Sohm.jpg Father John Sohm

The religious environment in which Father John Sohm grew up in at home and in school in Decatur was a major factor in his decision to become a Catholic priest, says the Springfield diocesan priest who is parochial administrator at St. Columcille Church in Sullivan. His parents - each had a sister who was a nun - his school teachers, high school chaplain and parish priests were all an important part of his upbringing in the Catholic faith.

Now just days away from the golden jubilee celebration of his ordination, Father Sohm says he feels blessed to have served so many good Catholic people over these years as a priest.

"It doesn't seem like it has been 50 years; it passes quickly," says Father Sohm, who is also the sacramental priest at St. Isidore, Bethany. Most of those years were spent in parish work, with occasional stints as a hospital chaplain. He also was a prison chaplain when he was in Mt. Sterling.

"Parish work is quite satisfying, because it means working with people, serving people, all of whom were good people. That is what you are ordained to do. That is what you find fulfilling and, hopefully, sanctifying. I've worked with so many good Catholic people."

He went to St. James Grade School in Decatur, and then went on to St. Teresa High School, graduating in the class of 1950. He and four of his high school classmates became diocesan priests. Three of them were grade-school classmates at St. James. Another member of their ordination class was two years ahead of them at St. James and St. Teresa. They were ordained May 24, 1958, by Bishop William O'Connor at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield.

Another St. James classmate went to a Jesuit preparatory high school in Wisconsin and is principal of a Jesuit high school in Japan. Another St. Teresa classmate, who went into the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is deceased. Two other classmates had gone into the diocesan seminary, but did not stay.

"We took a bit of ordination class pride in that so many of us came from Decatur. We've always felt the naming of another classmate, Bishop Balke, as a bishop gives ‘class' to our class. We are very proud of him." Two of their ordination classmates are deceased, "but otherwise we are still in tact, thanks to the grace of God," Father Sohm says.

Several girls in that same St. Teresa graduating class entered religious life. Two became Springfield Dominicans, another became a Hospital Sister of St. Francis, and another who was a non-Catholic  at St. Teresa, became Catholic and and entered a Chinese religious order, and has served in the Far East ever since. Yet another St. James classmate entered the School Sisters of St. Francis (in Milwaukee), immediately out of eighth grade.

Father Sohm says vocations are needed today. "The Catholic Church is going through a difficult period in the United States," says Father Sohm. "Our response is to pray for vocations, while we do our best to struggle through these difficult, changing times. We have to place our trust in the Holy Spirit, and in Divine Providence. That complements what Pope Benedict XVI has made one of his themes, the virtue of hope.  The lifestyle in the United States is one of comfort and ease, and that can easily foster an attitude of ‘I don't need God. I'm self sufficient.' But that is not true."

Father Sohm's first assignment in 1958 was as an assistant at St. Joseph in Granite City. He went on to serve as an assistant at St. Agnes, Springfield; St. Raymond, Raymond, and St. Patrick, Alton. In 1970 he was named parochial administrator and then pastor at Immaculate Conception Parish, Shelbyville and at St. Columcille.  While pastor at Holy Family in Mt. Sterling, he was also chaplain at the state prison. He returned to St. Columcille Church as pastor in 1993 and also served at the parish in Dalton City, and as a sacramental priest at St. Isidore, Bethany, since 2004.

Father Sohm likes to exercise, enjoys walking and jogging, and has no plans to retire, as long as his health is good. He has two sisters, one in Florida and one in the Chicago area.

- By Cathy Locher

60 Years of Priestly Service

McCarthy-Joseph.jpgFather Joseph McCarthy

Father Joseph McCarthy is celebrating his 60th jubilee of ordination in Burlington, Vt., where he lives at Converse Home. A native of Lawrence, Mass., Father McCarthy was ordained an Augustinian priest at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C., on June 8, 1948.

He was incardinated into the Springfield diocese under Bishop Joseph McNicholas, and spent over 10 years, from 1977 to 1988, in the Springfield diocese, where he served as a diocesan priest at: St. Barbara, Witt; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mother, Assumption; St. Francis DeSales, Moweaqua; St. Mary, Farmersville; St. Patrick, Girard and St. Thomas the Apostle, Newton. Earlier in his religious life as an Augustinian, he taught at St. Rita High School, Chicago; and St. Thomas High School, Rockford, and served as an assistant, then pastor at St. Augustine, Detroit.

- By Cathy Locher

25 Years of Priestly Service

Father Gerald L. Bunse

Father Gerald L. Bunse will celebrate his 25-year jubilee this year. A native of Jerseyville, he attended Holy Ghost School and graduated from the public high school there in 1969. He entered the diocesan seminary in 1975. Father Bunse was ordained on May 28, 1983 by Bishop Victor H. Balke at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. 

Fr-Bunse-in-blacks.jpg

Over the years Father Bunse has been parochial vicar at St. Bernard in Wood River, 1983-1986, and St. Paul in Highland and St. James in St. Jacob, 1986-1987. He has served as parochial administrator of Holy Ghost, Jerseyville, 1986; St. Frances Cabrini, Springfield, 1986; Forty Martyrs, Tuscola, 1986; St. Mary, Paris and St. Aloysius, North Arm, 1987; and St. Boniface, Edwardsville, 1994-1995. He was pastor of St. Mary, Paris and St. Aloysius, North Arm, 1987-1989; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Assumption, St. Francis DeSales, Moweaqua, and St. Stanislaus, Macon, 1989-1992; St. Mary, Farmersville and St. Patrick, Girard, 1992-1993; and St. Mary in Edwardsville, 1993-2003. 

For the last four years, Father Bunse has been living and serving at Our Saviour Parish in Jacksonville. Since he's been in Jacksonville, he has come to enjoy prison ministry at Jacksonville Correctional Center, serving alongside Our Saviour parishioners Tom and Judy Cisne. "They've been going to the prison for 15 or 16 years, so most weekends they go with me, along with other volunteers. They were the ones who showed me the ropes.

"The first few times I went I was scared. Then I realized ‘These people are just as hungry for God in their lives as anybody,'" he says, noting he will hold a REC (Residents Encounter Christ) weekend at the prison May 2-4.  "It is amazing the way you find the Spirit enlightening lives, even the prisoners'. Overall, it's kind of a neat ministry."

Father Bunse says he also likes being a part of students' lives. "I think the kids need to see the priest - just so that we are visible to them. I call it playground ministry. I enjoy celebrating with the kids at Our Saviour's and I go watch the Routt teams play. That high school is very important to them." He also helps out with the MacMurray College Newman Club and occasionally fills in at Illinois College by celebrating Mass.

"I have always enjoyed the idea of celebrating liturgy and the sacraments. Baptisms and weddings - those are the joyful times. But I have also come to recognize how people are very forgiving and very good about accepting that (as priests) we are not perfect - but we are redeemable. I am impressed with the faith of the Catholic people and of their willingness to let priests be a part of that faith. I'm not there to tell them how to do it, but to walk joyfully with them."

Like most people, Father Bunse says he feels like the years have passed quickly. "I can't believe where the time went," he comments. "Most of the time it has been enjoyable, and when you are enjoying yourself time does go fast. And when you are feeling low, well that is the time to let people support you."

Father Bunse will honor his jubilee by celebrating 10 a.m. Mass at Our Saviour Church in Jacksonville, followed by a punch and cookie reception. 

- By Diane Schlindwein

Laughery.jpg Father Kevin M. Laughery

Father Kevin Laughery began to seriously consider the priesthood when he was a junior at St. Teresa High School. "I had a religion course on social justice," he says. "It wasn't until then that I really ‘got it' that the church has been active in promoting the rights of workers.

"That (course) established the credibility of the church for me. I began thinking, ‘If that is what the church stands for, then maybe I can respond in this way.'"

The oldest of four children of Donald and Margaret Laughery of Oreana, he began his studies for the priesthood at the Diocesan Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in 1975. He received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from Cardinal Glennon College in 1979.

That year he entered the Pontifical North American College, Vatican City for theological studies and received the STB degree in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, in 1982. He was ordained as deacon in St. Peter's Basilica and spent the summer serving in St. Charles Borromeo Parish, London with chaplain's duties at two hospitals.

Father Laughery remembers the weeks leading up to his ordination were trying times. "Before I was ordained, my parents gave me a trip to the Holy Land. On the afternoon of Easter Sunday, April 3, 1983, I was attacked by some Palestinian kids who thought I was a Jew.  ... Then, on April 17 Bishop (Joseph) McNicholas died."

He and the other new diocesan priests finally were ordained a few weeks later at the cathedral in Springfield by Bishop Victor H. Balke.

After his ordination, Father Laughery continued his studies in Rome. When he returned to the States he served in several small parishes in 1985-1986. "My first real permanent assignment was as parochial vicar in St. Agnes (Springfield). I went there in 1986 and the new church was dedicated in 1989," he says, noting that he remained at St. Agnes until 1993.

In the mid-1980s Father Laughery joined the Greater Springfield Interfaith Association, a group for which he has held leadership positions many times. In 2002, he became ecumenical officer for the diocese.

"My way of looking at things is that you can't remain isolated within Catholicism. You have to recognize that there are other people and you have to try to understand what relationship you want to have with them." 

Father Laughery has been working in the Diocesan Tribunal since 1984, where he has held various positions, and is currently defender of the bond, episcopal delegate for matrimonial concerns, censor librorum and judicial vicar.

He was parochial administrator and later pastor of St. Mary, Farmersville and St. Patrick, Girard from 1993-1998. He was pastor of St. Patrick and Sacred Heart in Springfield from 1998-2000, and pastor of St. Benedict, Auburn; Sacred Heart, Divernon and St. Sebastian, Waverly from 2000-2006. 

In 2006, Father Laughery helped three parishes - St. Benedict in Auburn, Sacred Heart in Divernon and St. Mary in Pawnee - merge to form Holy Cross Parish, where he remains pastor. He will celebrate with his parishioners Sunday, June 8 with Mass at 10:15 a.m. at St. Benedict Church, followed by an open house until 3 p.m.

"The merger was happening at the same time I was taking on more tribunal responsibilities. I am very proud of my parish because I see people stepping forward, taking responsibility and accepting leadership," he says. "That's what we need to do. That's what we need to be as a church.

"Looking over 25 years and anticipating at least another 25 years of service, I realize that there are many things I knew. I knew we would have far fewer clergy than we were used to. There were certainly a lot of things I was never aware of.  I've been especially privileged to be entrusted with the stories of some very complicated and often very tragic lives in tribunal work. That has helped me see a lot of reality a lot more clearly.    

"I hope that trying to be a good priest has made me a good Christian. There is a great privilege in seminary formation, first of all and (then) in bringing the word of God to people every day. You cannot bring it to people if you have not let it challenge you first," he concludes. "It is a wonderful opportunity to find out what Christianity really is."

- By Diane Schlindwein

Molloy-Joe-bw.jpgFather Joseph Molloy

Father Joseph Molloy knew his 25th jubilee as a priest was rapidly approaching. He was looking forward to it, had talked with people about some of the unique things that happened to his diocesan ordination class of 1983. But, he admits, the first time he actually saw his name listed in print under "silver jubilarians" he was a little taken back.

"Oh my gosh, the years really have flown by," Father Molloy says. He is the only son of Joseph and Lucia Molloy, who still live St. Ambrose Parish in Godfrey, where Father Molloy attended the parish school and went on to Marquette High School.

"Sister Eliza Ryan, now one of the top leaders of the Ursulines of the Roman Union in Rome, was one of my teachers at Marquette. She is the best teacher I ever had in my life, including in the seminary," he says.

After graduating from Marquette in 1975, he went to St. Louis University for a year, then applied to enter and was accepted at the diocese's Immaculate Conception Seminary at Lake Springfield. After a year he went on to Cardinal Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, where he earned his philosophy degree, and then did his theology studies at nearby Kenrick Seminary.

He was ordained by the Springfield diocese's native son bishop, Bishop Victor Balke of the Diocese of Crookston, on May 28, 1983, at the cathedral in Springfield. Bishop Joseph McNicholas died suddenly just five weeks before the ordination, and the Holy Father had yet to appoint a new bishop for the diocese.

Father Molloy's first assignment was as an assistant at St. Aloysius in Springfield, under Father Robert Franzen, and as a chaplain and teacher at Ursuline Academy. His next assignment was parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish, Quincy, and as a chaplain and teacher at Quincy Notre Dame High School.

In January, 1988, he was asked to go to St. Thomas Parish, Newton, to fill in for six months for their priest, Father Joseph McCarthy, who was medical leave. When Father McCarthy, who is celebrating his 60th jubilee this year, was unable to return to parish work, the 31-year-old Father Molloy was named pastor at St. Thomas and priest moderator at St. Mary of the Assumption in Ste. Marie.

Father Molloy spent 14 years in the southeastern end of the diocese, and then in June 2002 he was named pastor at Holy Family Parish, Decatur.

"The biggest change I've seen in my 25 years as a priest, is the numbers of priests declining, yet the expectations for priests are more. You are doing more, but the work is the same. There are more lay people involved in the church today, which is wonderful," he says.

In Newton, Father Molloy was the priest for the county. Between his two parishes, he had five Masses on the weekend - two on Saturday night, three on Sunday. "There are a lot of advantages living in a rural community," he says. "It is a different culture. There is less crime, and you don't have to be so aware of crime. There is also that deep home-grown faith in a rural place. You go to Mass because that is what they do."

He finds city parishes also have advantages. "Holy Family is an absolutely wonderful parish. The people are so giving and sharing. They really like their parish. The young people are great. It helps to have a Catholic high school in town."

Why people aren't coming to church is a concern of priests everywhere today, he says. "If we could garner all the enthusiasm and the connection that so many people have for sports - some have kids in five or more sports - and bring that to church, imagine what could happen," he says.

"My mom and dad have always been the best support for me. But I would also like to thank all the people at the parishes where I've been, and am currently serving. They taught me so much about the Lord, and the faith, especially my two pastorates."

- By Cathy Locher

Weltin-Richard.jpg Father Richard Weltin

Father Richard Weltin began playing the organ at his parish church when he was in the sixth grade and has been involved in church ministry ever since. This year the Quincy native, who is pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes in Decatur, celebrates his silver jubilee. He was ordained by Bishop Victor Balke at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield on May 28, 1983.

Father Weltin went to St. Rose School and Christian Brothers High School, then to Quincy University, where he majored in English and took enough extra hours and did student teaching to qualify for an Illinois teacher's certificate. He says he had every intention of becoming a high school English teacher, but when no teaching position was open in his field of interest, he went to work for Niemann's Food in Quincy as an assistant manager.

"I loved working in the grocery store business," says Father Weltin, who all the while also was the organist and choir director at St. Rose.

He was almost 30 when he answered the call to become a priest. Since he already had his bachelor's degree, he spent only one year at the diocesan seminary at Lake Springfield, before going on to do his theology studies at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis.

The sudden death of Bishop Joseph McNicholas on April 17, just weeks before the ordination of the Springfield diocesan priests, hit Father Weltin and his family and friends doubly hard. "Bishop McNicholas died at 1 a.m. that morning. My Dad died at 11 p.m. that same night. Dad had been ill with cancer for some time," says Father Weltin.

His first parish assignment upon his ordination was at St. Anthony of Padua in Effingham, as a parochial vicar, and he also taught at the parish's St. Anthony High School. After four years in Effingham, Father Weltin was assigned to Blessed Sacrament Parish, Springfield, where he spent just six weeks as a parochial vicar under Father Hugh Cassidy before his  appointment as pastor of St. Elizabeth in Robinson and Our Lady of Lourdes, Oblong. He built a parish center at St. Elizabeth, in the course of his 14 years in the far southeastern corner of the diocese, before his appointment in July of 2001 as pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Decatur.

"It has been a very well rounded ministry," says Father Weltin. "It has been an unbelievably wonderful ride. I look at the experiences the Lord has called me to do, and it is just unbelievable, the amount of opportunities that the Lord has given me, and the challenges that he has put before me to go out and do  - prison ministry, working with migrants, Hispanic ministry."

Father Weltin's latest challenge is working on pastoral planning with St. Thomas Parish and Lourdes in Decatur. Beginning in July, he will serve as pastor of both.

"It has gone like a whirlwind. I look at all of the opportunities and the great things that God has brought into my life and it has just been unbelievable. I think we are looking at a different church down the road. So many people are missing such a wonderful opportunity to serve the Lord, because they are looking at other directions to find happiness, and the Lord is offering us the ultimate happiness to serve him in his church."

­- By Cathy Locher