Priests From My Past
Last year, on Sept. 16, there was a celebration at Immaculate Heart Retreat Center honoring Father Felix Lorge on his (almost) 100th birthday. He was going strong on the day itself, Sept. 23. (See November/December Inland Catholic.) Felix is not our first centenarian priest. Moritz Helfenstein (1899-2002) may hold the record for longevity, as he lived until he was 102. His must be an exclusive club — to have lived in three centuries! Moritz had retired around age 55 due to his poor health. He spent his remaining years living a simple, frugal life and investing in annuities from religious institutes. The Diocese of Spokane ultimately profited from his business plan.
Last year, on Sept. 16, there was a celebration at Immaculate Heart Retreat Center honoring Father Felix Lorge on his (almost) 100th birthday. He was going strong on the day itself, Sept. 23. (See November/December Inland Catholic.) Felix is not our first centenarian priest. Moritz Helfenstein (1899-2002) may hold the record for longevity, as he lived until he was 102. His must be an exclusive club — to have lived in three centuries! Moritz had retired around age 55 due to his poor health. He spent his remaining years living a simple, frugal life and investing in annuities from religious institutes. The Diocese of Spokane ultimately profited from his business plan.
Felix’s 100th got me thinking about old-timers from my past, a sure sign that I now am one of them. The first one to come to mind was Cyril Feisst (1903-1990). I had just used his pocket knife to slice an apple. I must have acquired the knife in the process of clearing out his few belongings from his room at the Lourdes’ rectory.
As a young priest, my connection with several older priests came about during 1977-78 when I was assigned to Our Lady of Fatima in Spokane. Joe Pash (1918-2007) was pastor. He was 60 years old then, lived another 29 years and never seemed to age. Some of Joe’s pals were Al Austen (1910-1991), Paul Wenning (1918-2003) and Ralph Schwemin (1913-2009). I recall the day we were at Fatima before Norm Triesch’s funeral (1917-1978). Father Triesch had a bad heart, but the heart of a pastor. I remember Joe telling me what an exemplary priest he had been. These guys and others of this cohort golfed on Wednesdays, ate dinner at the Town and Country, played cards Sunday evenings and gamboled to Reno for a winter break. Most of them smoked and enjoyed Scotch. They were the founding pastors of parishes and schools when the diocese grew through the 1950s and ’60s. Their ecclesial ministry spanned the pre- to post-Vatican II era.
As I viewed them through my 29-year-old eyes, these were old men, but every one was younger than I am now.
Father Pash was a great one for hospitality. He hosted a Thanksgiving eve dinner for around 20 priests. I remember it, 44 years later. Another of Joe’s buddies was Msgr. John Fahy (1895-1980). Back in 1977, he was old. Msgr. Fahy had been pastor at St. Joseph in west Spokane, where I served from 1987 to 2003. People remembered the old monsignor. Now, there are not many left who might remember this new monsignor who was once their priest.
To say that the Church has changed is like saying water is wet. Priests have changed. For the better? How do you answer that question? We can look back, but we can’t go back. We wouldn’t want to go back. What I admire most about these men is that I admire them. I hold them in esteem. They were good priests; they were good men. And they were flawed men. If the priest’s job description is “be like Jesus, only better,” they didn’t make the grade. But they made a difference. Two years ago, Bishop Daly gave us a book, The Priests We Need to Save the Church. It’s a good book, but we need a companion volume: “The Catholics We Need to Save the Church.”
“We’re all in the same boat,” as Pope Francis reminds us. No ship has ever been saved by abandoning it.
Msgr. Mark Pautler Is the Chancellor and Judical Vicar of the Diocese of Spokane.
Main Photo Caption: Rev. Ralph Schwemin 1913-2009
