Amici, C.PP.S.
Amici C.PP.S. having formed a bond with the Missionaries of the Precious Blood through
profession, ordination, or years of seminary studies, continue to celebrate our
relationship to the Community and to each other with our wives, families and friends.
Amici Newsletter
C.PP.S.
June 30, 2012
Published several times a
year for the Amici of the
Missionaries
of
the
Precious
Blood
and
distributed by email.
The Amici Newsletter was
founded by Greg Dues, for
the purpose of providing a
means for reporting on
localized gatherings of
Amici around the country.
It provides a vehicle for
sharing information and
experiences, coordinating
communication
among
Amici, provide a means of
getting reacquainted with
other
Amici
and
to
encourage other groups to
gather and meet in their
own regions.
Address any comments or
inquiries
or
articles/
pictures to Dennis Keller
at
[email protected] or
to
Dennis Keller
1533 Red Brick Rd
Garner, NC 27529
To update or correct your
email address, home address
or phone number, contact
Catherine Babcock at :
[email protected]
Or
Provincial House
Missionaries of the Precious Blood
431 E. Second St
Dayton, Ohio 45402-1764
Or
937-228-9263
This is also the contact for prayer
requests and/or death
announcements.
Blood Center in Liberty.
Of Many Things
Dennis Keller
On the Sunday before, we visited St. Francis
Xavier parish and school in St. Joe. Carol met
up with Joan Marfice who she taught with in
1962 when she was Sister Elizabeth Ann. Bill
Walter was the newly ordained assistant then
and is now once again assigned to that parish. I
knew him as Bucky, and had difficulty
remembering his first name as Bill. In the five
or so hours we were together, including dinner,
our conversation found no empty spots. Carol
and Joan recalled their days of work together
and the people of the parish and their children.
The difficulty I had in using Bill’s given name
was repeated with many others. Bill Miller was
still Bigger Bill, Ed Oen was still Eddy, Mike
Volkmer was still Scrups, Joe Uecker was still
Zeke, Richard Colbert was still Charlie, Paul
Sanders was still Spun. Jim Sloan still glides
when he walks. I hadn’t seen most of these
guys for over 50 years. Despite balding and
graying hair, they were still the same and their
personalities came quickly back in focus.
It was great seeing them again.
This issue contains a wide range of topics and
thoughts and opinions. Our topics range from
social justice as evidenced by Brother Darryl
Charron’s challenging article, to the Historical
Certification of the pipe organ the ordained and
professed among us sang to. That’s a little
scary — something of our time an historic
object? We recall a friend in the obituary for
Paul Fettig. We have a scattering of opinions
regarding the Vatican and the LCWR. There is
news regarding the gathering being planned for
July 2013. As we pulled together the
contributions for this issue, Carol and I are still
enjoying the buzz from our attendance at the
Kansas City Assembly in June.
In the past couple of years, Carol and I find
ourselves drowning in a series of difficulties
that don’t seem to end or have solutions. The
invitation from Fr Zeke, Joe Uecker, to join in
his celebration of the 50th anniversary of his
Incorporation came as a welcome reprieve. The
celebration is on the final evening of the
Assembly in a liturgy and a banquet. We
decided to go to honor Zeke’s achievement. As
we registered for that event, we learned that
Bill Huebsch was the keynote speaker and was
presenting four sessions on renewing the
impact of Vatican II. Like many of us, Carol
and I have not lost our interest in the
magnificent undertaking and results of that
unique council. Provincial Fr. Joe Nassal
graciously granted our request to participate in
all sessions of the Assembly. The members of
that Province and the Companions associated
with that Province were more than welcoming.
Joe Nassal introduced Carol and I as Amici and
family members of the Missionaries. Joe
calling us family caught us by surprise but was
a most welcome recognition. We came not just
for the meeting but we shared at table with our
family, both Members and Companions. The
feeling that we had come home and were
welcome was overwhelming. Joe had it right;
we had come home to family. We left
Kearney, MO after three days of the Assembly,
spending Wednesday night at the Precious
Bill Huebsch, leader in the four sessions was
brilliant. He is a product of the Precious Blood
run parish in Rush Lake, MN under the tutelage
of pastor Charlie Meyers. Bill’s work renewed
in us the respect for and hope engendered by
the second Vatican Council. In four sessions,
he reintroduced us to the historic environment
of that work and its impact on our lives. Most
of us had forgotten the church in which we
were born and in which we began our journeys
toward the priesthood or brotherhood. Each
day we began with breakfast followed by
morning prayer in the Annunciation parish
church. Each evening we concluded the
business of the day with liturgy. Wednesday’s
liturgy was a celebration of the 75th
anniversary of Larry Cyr’s Incorporation, 60
years of Incorporation for Vince Hoying , Jim
Sloan’s and Paul Sander’s 50th anniversary of
ordination and Mike Volkmer’s and Joe
Uecker’s 50th anniversary of incorporation.
Zeke kept reminding me that it was also my
50th anniversary of incorporation in the
Precious Blood family.
1
We witnessed the definitive incorporation
of four members of the Vietnam Vicariate
and understood just a bit more about the
length and breath of the Community in
which we are family.
Wednesday evening’s meal was served by
the Annunciation parish youth group. John
Wolf, their pastor, was justifiably proud of
their maturity and kindnesses. The meal
was cooked by parish members. One of
the parishioners brews his own version of a
dark beer that went down very easily. The
whole of the Assembly was held in the
parish hall of Annunciation parish.
As I read what I’ve written, I realize just
how inadequate are the words used to
report this experience. It is often difficult
to recognize the presence of Christ in our
living, complicated as it is with
responsibilities, concerns, joys and
delights; with insecurities. But in those
three days, it was as though we
reconnected with the center and basis of
what we believe and found it once again
real and relevant. Thanks, Kansas City
Members and Companions. Thanks Zeke
for inviting us. Thanks Joe Nassal for
welcoming us to the family table.
We are excited to be called family
members and sincerely hope that the Amici
might join up once again not as absent
prodigals, but as family gathered around a
common table of sharing of words and
food. In the early years of Amici, the
leadership group discussed repeatedly its
relationship with the Community. Rod and
Anne Fecher went to the effort of
surveying Amici and creating a database of
skills and careers that might be put to use
by the Community. That effort came to
naught in large part because nothing
seemed to fit. Jerry Bowers worked with
Dennis Chriszt on one mission. But this
too did not create an avenue of working
with the community,. In this issue, Al
Ebach explains the relatively new C.PP.S.
Volunteer program. Perhaps in our
coming to table with family can find
fulfillment in this volunteer work. Would
that we could all once again come to a
common table and share in the meal that is
relationship, nourishment and Eucharist.
D Keller
Justice & Peace
Br. Daryl Charron, C.PP.S.
The Holy Father has recently written a
message for the seventh world congress
on the pastoral care of tourism addressed
to Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio,
president of the Pontifical Council for the
Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant
Peoples. Pope Benedict said, "Tourism,
like every human reality, is not exempt
from dangers or negative dimensions. We
refer to evils that must be dealt with
urgently since they trample upon the
rights of millions of men and women,
especially among the poor, minors and
handicapped. Sexual tourism is one of
the most abject of these deviations that
devastate morally, psychologically and
physically the life of so many persons and
families, and sometimes whole
communities. The trafficking of human
beings for sexual exploitation or organ
harvesting as well as the exploitation of
minors, abandoned into the hands of
individuals without scruples and
undergoing abuse and torture, sadly
happen often in the context of tourism.
This should bring all who are engaged for
pastoral reasons or who work in the field
of tourism, and the whole international
community, to increase their vigilance
and to foresee and oppose such
aberrations."
Perhaps one way to honor the words of
Pope Benedict is to imitate the example
of immigration activist, Ruben Garcia.
Pax Christi USA has recognized his life
and witness by naming him the 2012
recipient of the Pax Christi USA Teacher
of Peace Award. Garcia is one of the
founders and the current director of
Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas.
During his career at Annunciation House,
Garcia has personally welcomed more
than 100,000 migrants to his home and
community, putting into practice and
personally embodying the radical
hospitality that Jesus exemplified to the
poor, the marginalized, and the
excluded. Scott Wright, author and
biographer of Archbishop Oscar Romero,
wrote that Garcia "teaches peace by
embodying peace, welcoming the
stranger, and inviting others to share in
this community where the least have a
place at the table. From the experience of
welcome and hospitality, comes an
awareness and a commitment to address
2
the root causes of injustice that push
migrants to flee from the political
violence in their countries, or conditions
of economic disparity that condemn their
families to die in conditions of extreme
poverty and misery."
Another way to follow the words of
advice from Pope Benedict is to protest
against child slavery. There are 400
million children living in conditions of
slavery in the world today. We can join
our efforts with international missionary
organizations and NGO's in denouncing
this. Many of these children work
manufacturing goods, which are then
sold to Europe and the West in
general. The Spanish Confederation of
Religious has criticized the fact that the
phenomenon is so widespread,
particularly in India, Afghanistan and
Pakistan, where boys and girls work in
the building industry. In Brazil, these
little slaves produce the coal used to
manufacture steel for cars and other
mechanical parts. In Myanmar, children
are used to gather sugarcane and other
agricultural products. In China they
prepare explosives and fireworks; in
Sierra Leone they are exploited for the
extraction of diamonds from mines. In
the Democratic Republic of Congo,
thousands of youngsters are forced into
slavery for the extraction of cassiterite
and coltan, minerals that are vital in the
assembly of computers and cell
phones. In Benin and Egypt it is
estimated that about a million children
are forced to work in the cotton industry
because they cost less and are more
obedient than adults, as well as having
the right height to slip in among the
plants. Finally, in the Ivory Coast,
approximately 12 thousand children
gather cocoa seeds that are exported for
chocolate production. I urge you to pay
close attention to what products you buy
based on where they are from and who
manufactures them before you purchase
them. To boycott buying
certain products because of such
injustices against children is a matter of
social justice.
The above article is reprinted with permission of Margaret Haik, director of communications and editor of The Weekly New Winepress Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Kansas City Province.
St Charles Holtkamp Organ
Awarded Organ Historical Society
Citation
On April 17, in a ceremony at St. Charles
Center, Carthagena, Ohio, the Organ
Historical Society presented Fr. Jim
Seibert, administrator of St. Charles Center
with an Organ Historical Society Citation.
The St. Charles organ joins a prestigious
group of 324 organs in the United States
and Canada as Citation recipients. Bro.
Ben Basile initiated the event and
completed the advance contact and
paperwork. Fr. Ralph Verdi worked with
Bro. Ben in bringing the event to fruition.
The Holtkamp Organ at St. Charles is one
of two organs the Missionaries of the
Precious Blood commissioned. The first
such organ was built for Brunnerdale
Minor Seminary by the Votteler,
Holtkamp, Sparling Organ Company of
Cleveland, Ohio. When Brunnerdale was
sold for commercial development in 1989,
the organ was moved to St. Joseph’s
Assumption Chapel on the day of the award and concert. The some of the organ pipes are
visible on the left of the picture. The console is moved to the center of the sanctuary for the
concert. Until St Charles closed as a house of study, the students participated in liturgy in
choir format — half to the left and half to the right, facilitating the alternation of psalmody.
College where it remains.
Through the efforts of Fr.
Bill Kramer it was restored
and continues to be a
valued instrument.
Fr. Ralph Verdi presenting opening remarks in his introduction of
Dr. Stephen Schnurr. Dr. Schnurr presented the Citation in the
name of the Organ Historical Society.
Dr. Stephen Schnurr presenting a concert at the console of
the Holtkamp organ. Fr. Ralph Verdi assists.
The Holtkamp Organ at St.
Charles served as the
musical instrument for
accompaniment and
inspirational music during
liturgies in the Assumption
chapel. It was installed in
1961 during a major
renovation of the
Assumption Chapel. Frs.
Bill Kramer and Larry
Heiman oversaw the installation of the
organ at St. Charles as well as serving as
consultants in developing the
specifications for the organ.
The Holtkamp Organ Company was
opened in St. Marys, Ohio by Herman
Heinrich Holtkamp in 1891 as a retail
establishment for the sale of Pianos,
Organs and Sewing Machines. As an
organ retailer he became associated with
Gottlieb Votteler who had an organ
manufacturing shop in Cleveland, Ohio.
Henrich was invited to work with Votteler
and in 1905 became the owner of the shop.
(Photos by Feltz Foto)
Fr. Jim Seibert and Fr. Ralph Verdi display the certificate as Dr. Stephen
Schnurr looks on.
3
tour was led by Dan Kirby on
Friday morning. He is so
outgoing that it’s hard to
believe he’s the head of
security. He is the closest staff
person to the building’s
“historian” there is. We went
through just about all the
buildings, which included
seeing the graffiti in the rooms
near the top that hardly anyone
visits anymore.
The folks at Glenmoor are
genuinely glad to see
Springtime at Brunnerdale: The circle is still
there, now with a flower bed the low end of the
circle. Photo by Fred Baumer
Mid May Class Reunion
Brunnerdale Class of
1962
(photo essay and commentary
by Mike Feltz, ‘62)
The rooms are not cheap at
Glenmoor: a room with two
beds costs $149 per night, plus
almost a 10% occupancy tax.
A few in our group stayed off
site, which made some sense
to me.
Once you have a room,
The pond is still there. The official golf path goes to the left of the pond. Traces of the original cinder path constructed from cinders from the original coal fired furnace can still be
seen in places along the right side of the pond. (Photo by Fred Baumer)
everything will be charged to
the room number and you’ll
take care of it when you
check out. There’s a 20% tip
added to all food/beverage
charges, plus a 7.5% sales
tax. So if you run up a tab
of, say, $100 on menu prices,
you’ll see $127.50 charged to
your credit card when you
The new outdoor pool stands where the indoor pool leave.
built in 1958 was. Photo by Fred Baumer
A very interesting two hour
4
Brunnerdale reunions, and not
just for the business. They
learn a little more about the
local history with each reunion
and the reunions average about
one every year or so.
However, there are 8 to 10
tours conducted each year as
prospective homeowners
would like to learn a little
about the history of the
grounds and the building. So
L
reunion at Glenmoor ought to
contact Bill. He’s in the Amici
section of the Missionaries
Directory. He’ll advise you
how to put it together.
Mike Feltz
L to R: Dan Kirby (security), John Krupa, Linda and Bill Kneuve, Bob and Sue Avery, Fr. Linus Evers,
Fr. Ron Wiecek, Gayle and Bill Stock, Don and Mary Miller, and Rich Bialczak. (Feltz Foto)
it’s a very positive experience
both ways.
Everybody who attended the
reunion was grateful to Bob
Yadron who has tracked down
most of the class of ‘62 over
the years. That makes it
relatively easy to get the word
out for events like this. And
Bill Kneuve put the reunion
together nicely — just the
right split between “we time”
and “me time”.
That’s not easy to
do when there has
been so much
“water under the
bridge.” In my
opinion anyone
planning a future
A bunch of classics — this time Bentley’s —
showed up on Friday. Their presence added to
the beauty and grace of this place where we
spent so much of our youth. (Photo by Bill
Stock)
Above: Most of the large rooms are gone but the freshman/
sophomore study hall remains. This looks to where Br. Norbert’s
elevated platform stood. Below: Much remains the same where we
first entered this place of our youth. (Feltz Fotos)
Left to right front row: Dick Bialczak, Fred Baumer, Jim
Hemmelgarn, Don Miller: second row: Mike Feltz, Bob Avery,
John Krupa, Fr. Linus Evers. Third row: Fr. Ron Wiecek, Bill
Kneuve, Bill Stock all standing on the “steps to nowhere”.
(Feltz Foto)
5
Presentation to the
Trinitarians
By Tom Stang
Dorothy was a shining example of a faith
driven life. She entered the convent of the
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in
Reading, Ohio in 1947 at the age of
l7. Her boot camp was in Phoenix,
Arizona where she spent many years as a
school principal during the day and
administering to farm working migrants in
the evening and week-ends. She was sent
to Brazil in 1966 in response to a papal
initiative to get religious orders to send
more members to care for the poor of
South America. Her last 20 years were
primarily with the poorest of the poor in
the Xingu area of the Amazon where
Precious Blood Bishop Erwin Kreutler has
been in charge. She was murdered on
February 12, 2005 by two hired hands of a
rancher that felt Dorothy needed to be
removed because of her constant hindrance
to their illegal activity.
The following is a presentation I made to
the Trinitarians in Baltimore. The
Trinitarians have been around for over 800
years. They got started as a group that
ransomed captives during the crusades in
1100 AD. They have drifted into all kinds
of stuff over the years but this recent get
together was part of an international
meeting to refocus their efforts in a world
of today that sees more religious
persecution than ever before. The pastor of
our church in L.A. is Trinitarian and he
was struck by my observation one day that
my sister Dorothy should be on the front
page of newspapers rather than stories of
Sister Dorothy Stang
pedophile priests. Anyway, he thought I
would make a good keynoter in a 2 day
conference of very solid presenters.
The best were John Allen and Joe
Griebowski. The group was primarily
French speaking from Montreal and
Quebec and English speaking mostly from
the USA but some from Spain and Rome.
Los Angeles Stangs
Connecting the Dots
Tom Stang
Dorothy’s life long friend and comrade,
Sister Joan Krim referred to the Sound of
Music when asked to give an
appreciation of Dot. “How do you hold
a moon beam in your hand?” was meant
to suggest the impossibility of fully
appreciating Dorothy Stang, S.N.D. de
Namur. Others say Dot was just an
ordinary girl from Dayton Ohio. If you
connect the Dots that make up the face
of Dorothy, you will see how
extraordinary this ordinary woman was.
Let’s begin with the letter “P” for
PROPHET. Bishop Erwin Kreutler, her
superior in the Xingu diocese of the
Amazon and mutual friend says in an
interview with Binka de LaBreton in her
biography of Dot that to understand Dot,
one must first start with her role as
prophet. “Prophets are those who tell
forth the will of God – God’s deepest
desire. A prophet does not have a voice
of their own. The prophet is the
spokesperson who speaks for God, who
feels this as their mission and feels called
to do this. So when we think of Dorothy,
this is the starting point.”
Bishop Kreutler, like Dot has totally
identified with the poor for the whole
time of his episcopacy along the Xingu.
He, like many theologians that came out
of Vatican II see the image of the church
as prophet, giving “preferential option
for the poor” which could be translated
“seeing the face of Christ in the poor”.
They see the mission of the Church in
today’s world as liberating human
beings, helping them attain their human
rights and dignity, being critical of
structures not just of the secular world
but the Church as well – structures that
support oppression and human
6
denigration. A prophet takes strong
stances against Kings and Priests who
may be supporting empty rituals of
faith. Speaking truth to power is the
work of the prophet.
The next Dot to connect is “E”. Dorothy
was an EDUCATOR. She energized the
poor and uneducated farmers of the
Amazon by demanding from the
government their right to an education.
She knew the policy of the government
to supply money for teachers when 20 or
more needed to learn how to read and
write. When there were no teachers, she
set up teacher training schools, and when
there were no schools, she organized the
people to build them. By the time of her
death, she had helped to build more than
80 such schools. One can only imagine
the enmity she earned from the illegal
ranchers and loggers that preferred an
ignorant work force.
Moving on, we arrive at the next Dot –
“A” for ACTIVIST. Dorothy looked at
life through the lens of the Good News –
the Gospel. She saw clearly the need of
the people living in dire poverty in the
forest of the Amazon. She looked and
saw, saw and understood, understood
and went the extra mile of acting. Her
action was fortified by her belief in God
and the gospel’s admonition of Jesus that
whatever you do for the least of my
brothers, you do for me. Dorothy, with
her cloth bag full of paper work proving
the legal rights of the people who took
the government at their word to cultivate
the land, a bag that contained her only
weapon, the Bible, set off for action
daily.
The next Dot is “C” for
COMPASSION. Dorothy, knowing the
story of the good Samaritan well since
her days as a teen age worker at Good
Sam Hospital in Dayton was a variable
that ultimately led to her death. She
resisted the advice of many. Her
superiors in Cincinnati suggested she
take some time off. Her colleages in
Belem suggesting she stay longer to
relax and celebrate Carnival. Her
associates in Anapu that thought she
should call her ill fated trip to Esperanza
to assist those who had just been burned
out of their homes by a rancher’s
henchmen who desired their land. She
went anyway to give them food, clothes,
moral support and the good news that
their land holdings were indeed legal.
“E” stands for
ENVIRONMENTALIST. She got a
good start in Dayton, Ohio living in
community with a family of nine
children and supported by a very earth
friendly father. Henry, a chemical
engineer by education, knew how
detrimental man could be to planet earth.
Dot’s appreciation came full bloom
during a sabbatical in Oakland,
California at Holy Name College where
she spent a year studying Creation
Theology. This motivated her
tremendously to help the people living in
the Amazon to truly appreciate the
creation of God the Father – the amazing
Amazon. Living in this great cathedral of
the Amazon forest, she committed
herself to protecting and saving planet
earth. Her mantra was “the death of the
forest is the end of us.” She taught the
people subsistent farming and
encouraged them to stop using the
destructive slash and burn method.
Today, as the people in her area prepare
for the sacrament of confirmation, they
must show their commitment to life by
bringing a symbol of their work projects
that involve saving planet earth.
Moving on to “M” for MOTHER and
MARTYRDOM. Dot’s brothers and
sisters never called Dorothy Mae. It was
on her birth certificate and how
significant since the word Mae in
Portuguese means mother. Her total self
giving at all times to her people makes
this an obvious. Martyr as well. Her
entire life along the Amazon was spent
under the cloud of a death listing. She
was on one list or another (loggers,
ranchers, agribusiness, police,
politicians). Her ultimate group of killers
all had good Christian names. Their
trials were one long excuse for their
corporate greed. Dot was a communist,
an activist, a meddler, a CIA plant, a
plant of the U. S. government meant to
create chaos so the U.S.A would have
another excuse to invade like they have
done in Iraq, Afghanistan and many
other places according to her detractors.
This group of wealthy nominal
Christians saw life only through the
glasses of profit motive.
AGRARIAN REFORMER is our next
Dot. Agrarian reform looked great on
paper and was to be enforced by
IBAMA, the environmental protection
government agency and INCRA, the
land reform agency but the good that the
left hand of government was doing was
basically made null and void by what the
right hand was doing. Their support of
logging, ranching, and the agro industry
such as soy bean growth was usually at
the expense of the poor farmers.
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians with it’s
“love is kind, never mean” etc. sets us up
for the next Dot – KINDNESS. Dorothy
was totally inclusive in her love of all
mankind. She radiated this kindness
with her ever present smile and kind
eyes. Even her would be killers were
treated with kindness and given the
chance to choose otherwise. I’m sure
she would have no problem forgiving
these poor ranch hands who found the
reward of 25 thousand dollars a
temptation too great to pass up since they
were leading an enslaved life. Their
ranch owner had been accused by Dot of
slavery and fined accordingly.
“E” is for ENVIRONMENTALIST TO
THE MAX and we don’t have to
belabor it.
“R” is for REALIST – Dorothy was not
naïve. She knew the danger she lived in.
She saw how the federal police protected
themselves with automatic weaponry.
She knew that naming names, blowing
the whistle on illegal behavior, would
have its consequences. She knew what
happened to people like John the Baptist,
the Archbishop of El Salvador, the six
Jesuits and two nuns that were working
for justice for the poor. She herself said,
“I don’t want to flee nor do I want to
abandon the battle of these farmers who
live with no protection in the forest.
They have the sacrosanct right to aspire
to a better life on land they can live and
work with dignity while respecting the
environment.”
Taken all together, the Dots spell
PEACEMAKER – AND THEY
SHALL SEE GOD.
Reproduction of painting of Sister Dorothy in the Greek Icon Style commissioned by Martin
Sheen. This painting is hanging in Julienne-Chaminade High School in Dayton, Ohio
7
Obituary for Paul
Fettig
Paul Francis Fettig
This is the eulogy given by Paul’s brother
David at his Memorial Liturgy
When I gave this eulogy I was standing on
the floor of an Altar at the pulpit. I found
it ironic that this is where my brother spent
a good portion of his life. I saw the sense
of humor in it and could almost hear Paul
getting the last laugh.
Tech Center for Design. He once took us
to the Center over the Christmas shutdown.
He had keys for every design studio they
had and we saw it all.
Paul was a street priest because of the
times, because of the neighborhood and
because of the environment. We were out
for a drive one afternoon and Paul pulled
up to a liquor store. He said "come on in
with me, I want to get a pack of
cigarettes".
We walked in and the
proprietor knew him. They greeted and
Paul asked for a pack of cigarettes. At the
same time, I saw him stamp three fingers
down on the counter and Paul laid a $20
down. Paul got the cigarettes, we left, no
change was exchanged. When we got
outside I said "what was that all about" he
said, "I just placed a bet, the cigarettes
were free!"
St. Anthony’s had a 26 bedroom rectory
with a dining room that could seat 30. On
Saturday nights Paul would host dinners
where guests would include the likes of a
Southern Baptist minister, a Lutheran
priest, a Catholic Archbishop, black
panthers, nuns, and even a homeless
person.
Paul Fettig
I am David, Paul is my brother. I would
like to talk a bit about his life as I knew it.
Paul Francis Fettig was a Catholic priest
for 25 years. The youngest pastor in the
United States at that time. The first one in
his Order, the Order of the Precious Blood,
to earn a Master's Degree in Psychology.
His parish in Detroit - St. Anthony’s - was
at the time a predominantly Polish and
German congregation, which as the big 4
automakers grew and built out towards the
suburbs, evolved into an all black parish.
To give you an idea, as the auto industry
grew, Gratiot Avenue had 6 lanes with one
story buildings on both sides for a 10 mile
stretch towards the suburbs. I would come
up from Dayton sometimes and spend the
weekend. There was always something
different going on or someone interesting
to meet. One of Paul’s parishioners was a
retired lady who was Henry Ford I's
personal secretary. She told us how she
would take orders for Model T Fords using
checkmarks and at the end of the day,
adding them up and giving the totals to the
shop foreman. Another one of Paul's
parishioners was a GM executive at the
At one time 90% of Paul's work was done
with heroin addicts on the street. The
rectory even had a war room with a map of
all the abandoned houses that were used as
“shooting galleries”. I remember a walk
one night when we went into one of these
houses. Syringes littered the floor. Paul
walked right up to a huddled figure and
said "when are you going to come see me
and get some help".
At one time during the 1967 rebellion Paul
was the only liaison between the Detroit
police and the black panthers. Yes, he
actually went to and spoke at their
meetings. During that struggle, if either
side wanted to talk, they had to do it
through my brother.
Paul started an inner-city youth program
for Black youth to get them out of the city
for day trips, but he needed transportation.
He put on his Roman collar and
unannounced and with no appointment,
talked his way into Henry Ford’s office. A
few days later, 3 brand new Ford vans
were delivered. The next step was to go
out to the Detroit Lions training camp
where he talked to players and got some to
come in and help with his program. On
occasions, Paul would come to their locker
room and lead them in team prayers before
games.
8
There was a night he was summoned to a
hospital to give last rights to a former Miss
America contestant who lay dying alone. I
remember him telling me how she said
"Father, please just hold me, please hold
me." She died in his arms.
Paul for a time was also Chaplain for
Ypsilanti State Hospital. He told stories
about how on a full moon the patients
would be extra loud. Cries, howls and
energy filled the building. There would be
patients dancing around him while he said
Mass. One time, when he confronted a
patient saying "what are you doing here"
the response he got was that this "patient"
was a psyche grad student doing research.
The stories go on and on and all this came
to a point where it took its toll on him and
he had to back away from the priesthood.
He spent some years of healing, then
contemplation of returning. He went to his
30th high school reunion right before his
planned return to the priesthood. At the
reunion, he was reunited with his high
school sweetheart, Molly Payne. They
married and I am so happy that he found
peace and love.
In his later years, the stories did not stop.
After he and Molly married they were
living in Marathon, Florida for a time. In
between jobs, Molly saw an ad in the paper
calling for extras for a movie that was
being filmed called "Donnie Brasco"
starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp. At
Molly's urging, Paul went down and tried
out. Of course he got the part, which was
playing an Airline pilot. The funny thing
is, he actually beat out a real American
Airlines pilot who was on furlough!
Paul with four of his six grandchildren
Last month, after the Amici notification
of his hospice care, I wrote to Paul Fettig
recalling some days at St. Joe his first
year. Racing in the Jeep with George
Doyle and Bert Thiel (aka Burly Hill)
and Fr. Clem Kuhn’s Queenie running
alongside, her Lassie hair flying, to take
garbage to The Pits, toss rocks at rats
there, and sneak a dip in the cold water
in the midst of a hot summer
day….maybe after cleaning out the Ash
Pit on top of the Power House, with bits
of dust stuck in our throats for days
afterwards (OSHA-types all asleep in
those days). And because of his question
in Fr. Kuhn’s Greek class, becoming
Paul paraDIG’em. His response, right
before he died, concerning that boyhood
heaven precursor to the heaven he was
headed for (as he described those days)
was “we must have lived our lives well
in the days of X-Hall !”
Dan Hoy
Paul was a wonderful priest and man. I
knew him from his days at St.
Anthony's. He was dedicated to serving
the community and being a servant.
He offered hope and kindness. He loved
learning and he was a man of wit and
wisdom. He served the Diocese of
Detroit well. He is the kind of priest that
makes for joy.
He knew how to laugh and he knew how
to lead.
Pat Egan-Myers
I remember Paul very well. We
were in Father Esser’s Latin class
together at St. Joseph college. Each
day after class Paul and I would
make a bet who had the most red
correction marks on our papers. Fr.
Esser made so many marks on
Paul's paper you could not read the
paper. I began to call him the
"amare" kid from the Latin amo,
amas, amat. Paul did receive a lot of
kidding but we had a lot of fun in a
very dull Latin class.
I am very saddened to learn of Paul's
death. Everything Jim Burch said in the
piece he wrote about Paul is true.
Paul and Tom Peters
Ward Keller & Paul on steps of St.
Marys Novitiate, on crutches
I have a couple of great pictures of Paul
that I’m enclosing.
Ward Keller
Paul was one class below me. Like
myself, he was from Dayton, Ohio and
we shared a lot of things in common.
One of them being our love for the rough
and tumble sport of hockey where he and
I shared similar monikers. He was
known as Pauly Rough Rough and I as
Tommy Tough Tough. Paul did have a
most unusual friendly disposition and
there were never any hard feelings after a
well fought game. This was his
approach through out his life I'm
sure. Our paths never crossed after
ordination but he did send me his
consolations at the time of the death of
my sister, Dorothy Stang. I would like
to extend my greetings to his wife, Molly
and share with her the pain of loss.
Tom and Darnell Stang
Several months ago, I spent the better
part of an hour on the phone with Paul. I
wondered why it was that during the
civil rights movement several of the guys
(Paul, Don Ranly, Charlie Myers, Denny
Kinderman, to name just those I know
about) I knew in seminary engaged in the
movement while others did not. The
conversation was stimulating and
enlightening. My regret is that we did
not finish the conversation to adequately
capture the courage and dedication of
Paul and the others.
Dennis Keller
Bert Thiel.
Paul Fettig was always very kind to me.
Chuck Metzger
Paul, Pat Patterson, Jack Deines, Mike Myers at Novitiate
9
Ordination Picture
Paul in Deacon Alley.
Fall 1957 cloister at Xavier Hall: Left to Right Jack Deines, John McLaughlin, Bernie
Srode, Mike Myers, Roger Snyder, Tom Peters, Milan Mulac, Lester Homan, Paul Fettig,
Pat Patterson.
In the “X” St. Joe: Back Row l to r: Bob Hafner, Al Naseman, Herman Sims,
Tom Brenberger, Paul Fettig, Nick Winner, Bernie Srode, Denny Kinderman.
Front row l to r:Lester Homan, Bill Dineen, John Buehler, Ron Moorman.
Left: This cross made of
scroll-sawn wood. The black
of each block is actually a cut
out of the wood piece. The
black background is made up
of a very thin veneer type
wood painted black. The
detail and the very thing
pieces of wood holding the
whole together is indicative
of the skill of the artist. That
artist is John Wolf, past of
Annunciation parish. This
cross is displayed in the vestibule of Annunciation
Church in Kearney, MO.
John also does word art, cut
and carved out of hardwoods.
10
This detail is of the sixth station. In this
enlarged station, the delicacy of the
work is evident.
RADICAL PATRIARCHY ?
Joe Hanish
Recently the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith in the Vatican has accused the
LCWR (Leadership Conference for
Religious Women) of promoting "radical
feminist themes incompatible with the
Catholic faith". It all seems somewhat
condemnatory at first, were it not for the
vague terminology.
Further, a bishop has been appointed to
oversee the nuns, rewrite its statutes,
review all plans, approve speakers and
watch over their prayers and rituals. That
gets specific.
Such a "hostile takeover" is difficult to
watch given the American bishops recent
complaints about the harrassing of Catholic
freedom in our country by the
administration. Also, the accusations,
whatever their source, are difficult to
watch as the image of Catholic women
religious has been that of persons known
for liturgical literacy, concern for justice,
compassion and deep faith. Are we
dealing with a 'speck' in one eye while
ignoring the 'beam' in the other's?
Is this too a vestige of the hijacking of the
spirit and terms of the Second Vatican
Council? In the ressourcement of the
Council for Religious, superiors were told
to "go to your origins and draw from them
the principles and energy to make the
necessary changes for the present".
Sisters in the 1960's had one foot planted
in American Society and so experienced
the same cultural upheavals and social
transformations as their fellow citizens in
this crucial decade. By virtue of their
religious consecrations, sisters also
inhabited the interior folds of a Catholic
world that was on the cusp of its own
revolution as the Church prepared for and
absorbed the dramatic changes that
resulted from the Second Vatican Council.
On another level, the very institution of
religious life was destabilized as
congregational superiors struggled to
implement innovations that had emerged
from a two decade long process of
organizational reform to the ways that
sisters were recruited, educated and trained
for religious consecration and apostolic
ministry. No group accepted the reforms
and tried to renew itself like the sisters.
If we reject this Council and its mandates,
do we not have the basis for rejecting the
other 20 Councils?
Comments on the Dispute Between
the Vatican/Hierarchy and the
Leadership Conference of Women
Religious
Having never experienced the bonds of
matrimony, the members of the Vatican/
Hierarchy, propelled by profuse levels of
evangelical testosterone, are
ceremoniously making their way toward
assured irrelevance if they continue to
pursue a gender confrontation that no sane
married man in the developed world would
ever contemplate, let alone attempt. So
much for celibacy, my friends, so much for
celibacy.
Tony Vasek
I hope the women religious stay tough. Not
all is so black & white. The Hierarchy just
hurt the Mass with the (so called
English)
`
Chuck Metzger
My two cents:
Pursuant to your opining the Catholic
Bishops are likely not the successors
of the apostles, but misguided souls which
the Holy Spirit needs to rescue.
Your efforts to use the Amici mechanism
to support the latter is very troubling. I
support the Bishops, where can I obtain a
sticker to support the Bishops?
John Chernoski
I am outspoken here in the Philippines
about the abuses resulting from the power
of the RC hierarchy -- over the congress,
the government, the people. I don't mean
child abuse. I mean abuse. Period. They
have the power to cause this country to be
the only country in the world which denies
its citizens the right to divorce in an
unbearable (unworkable) situation -people of every religion and non religion
suffer this abuse.
The leading feminist in this country is
Mother Mary John Mananzan, OSB,
Mother General of her Benedictine Order,
President of their prestigious university,
president of the leading feminist
organization, president of the "Major
Religious Superiors..." I have served on
Forum panels with her and written several
blogs on her fortitude.
It takes even more fortitude for her to stand
up for justice in a country where the
hierarchy has such uncanny power. It takes
11
less fortitude for me to do so for the last 21
years because at least they don't have
internal power over me, since fellow
Amici, Jim Burch, is my archbishop, and
the archbishop of Manila is not my
archbishop.
Yes, I had a visitor from Rome. The
monsignor told me, "You are hard on the
church." I replied, "No, Monsignor, not
hard on the church. I love the church, the
Mass, the sacraments, but I fight injustice
toward women, gays, lesbians,
transgenders, and hapless people who are
denied the right of divorce." That was the
story he took back to Rome, but he
couldn't fire me or silence me.
Rich Mickley
The LCWR flap is two years old. (Nuns
go off into left field. Vatican decides to
look into situation. Nuns don't want
Vatican meddling. Vatican does
visitation. Nuns don't like visitation, don't
cooperate.
Vatican wants changes. Nuns don't want to
change.) How about something current,
like HSS deciding to trample religious
freedom with the "must provide
contraceptives" order? Not enough time
for June, of course, but it's a current
topic. Or do we want to keep it light?
Bill Stock
The Nuns on the Bus are doing it
right. They are not complaining or
empowering the bishops by engaging
them over their silly demands for
conformity. They - Sister Simone
Campbell and Sister Diane Donoghue social service nuns - are touring a
dozen states and visiting legislative
offices (many Catholic like Paul Ryan,
Steve King and John Boehner) and
instructing them on the true nature of
Catholic Social Doctrine with its
emphasis on helping the less
fortunate. They are doing more to
engage Catholics and improve the
public image of the church (the people
of God) than those who waste their
time picketing episcopal chanceries
and cathedrals. In other words passive resistance. Just continue
working for the poor. We are long
past the need for episcopal
imprimaturs.
Tom Stang
PRECIOUS BLOOD
VOLUNTEER
PROGRAM
The Precious Blood Volunteer Program is
in its fourth year, although, it began to
sprout roots about ten years ago. Four
years ago the province leadership hired a
full time director of volunteers. Chris
Hoyt, the director, with the help of an advisory board, began developing a program.
Everyone was excited about this new program, however, after a year and a half into
the process the board expressed concern
that no perspective volunteers were applying.
The advisory board realized that members
and companions would be interested in
seeing progress, namely in numbers, by the
next province assembly. It was suggested
that the program use a model that invites
people to volunteer for weeks or months,
rather than following other models of serving a full year. After the board agreed to a
short–term model, Charlotte and Jim Noble, who served on the advisory board and
who had volunteer experience with another
organization, suggested they become the
first Precious Blood volunteers. They volunteered their services at a refugee program with Catholic Charities in Oakland,
CA, living with Precious Blood members
in Berkley, CA. Within a few months,
Sean Fitzgerald from Kearney, MO applied
to serve as a volunteer. He was placed in
an inner city parish served by the Precious
Blood community, ministering at the
school, the food pantry and the parish,
while residing with Precious Blood priests
in Kansas City, MO. The following spring
two more young people applied: one
served at the Reconciliation Center in Chicago, while living with a Precious Blood
sister, and the other volunteer ministered in
a clinic in Oakland, CA, living with the
priests in Berkley.
After completing three years, the program
was officially off the ground, with four
new volunteers who just completed their
orientation process at Precious Blood Center, Liberty, MO. All four candidates are
recent graduates of Notre Dame. Two girls
are presently serving in Crownpoint, NM
at the Navajo Nation, ministering in a local
clinic and assisting in local parish programs. They are living with two ASC sisters at the parish center in Crownpoint.
One of the young men is serving at Pacific
Center in Berkley, CA, and living with
Precious Blood members in Berkley. Pacific Center is an LBGT outreach program.
The fourth individual hopes to begin his
volunteer year in August.
When these young people were asked why
they chose the Precious Blood Volunteer
program, all of them shared that this program offers ministries others do not offer,
and that they were able to do short-term
service; opportunities for short-term service seems to be appealing to many. The
Happy Fourth of
July
On these national holidays of
remembering, we should not forgot those
Members and Amici who have served
our country in the military services.
The members have a distinguished
record of service to our nation in the
wars of the twentieth century. We have
lost several of our friends and fellow
travelers in that serving. We admire and
honor their dedication and their
commitment to the land of their freedom.
May the memory of their service inspire
us to discern carefully and seriously the
issues that confront us. Let us not allow
our minds and hearts to be moved by
half truths, diatribe and the goals of
partisanship. May we always be seekers
and lovers of peace and truth and justice.
12
board also felt that with short-term opportunities more Precious Blood Companions
and Amici may be attracted to participate
as volunteers. The Precious Blood Volunteer Program offers ministry opportunities
for people age eighteen on up. This could
possibly open some possibilities for people
who are looking to get involved in service
and ministry but are not sure what is being
offered. Presently, there is a woman, seventy – two years old, who has spent most
of her teaching career as a reading specialist, inquiring about the program. She is
really interested in going to Crownpoint to
use her gifts and talents with the young
people of the Navajo Nation. This ministry
is very attractive to her.
The Precious Blood Volunteer Program is
always open to more volunteer sites and
living arrangements. Up to this point volunteers have been offered housing only
with priests, brothers and sisters of the
Precious Blood, but hopefully, if sites are
near where companions and Amici live,
there could be opportunities for them to be
housed by our Companions and
Amici. The Precious Blood Volunteer
program is still in its infancy stage and
there are possibilities that have not even
surfaced yet. This is an exciting time for
the Missionaries of the Precious Blood and
hopefully everyone involved - members,
Companions, Amici, and now volunteers will bring other perspectives of being
“missionary” to our church and world.
Al Ebach, C.PP.S.
July 2013
Gathering
Of Amici and Friends
At St. Charles
Center,
Carthagena, Ohio
Survey:
2013 Amici Gathering Survey will soon be in your email inbox.
WE NEED EVERYONE's INPUT....Please complete the survey ASAP, so that
we know your ideas concerning the Gathering next year.
Gathering:
Important dates!
July 26-28, 2013
Mark your Calendars for the
2013 Amici Gathering
at St. Charles Center
Carthagena, Ohio.
* Friends...new & familiar, young and old
* Ideas...stimulating speakers
* Music ... Choral event and excerpts from Brunnerdale Traveling Road Show.
* Outdoor eating and meeting event --under tent, catered
* Much more!
Brunnerdale Event and Reunion:
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Afternoon to evening; outdoor, tented event, including room to meet, walk, talk, share. Catered meal, presentation
of excerpts from Traveling Road show in honor of Father Bob Onofrey, C.PP.S. and Brother Jim Mignerey, C.PP.S.
& sing along. Come and see old friends and classmates.
Cost: To be determined.
Choral Event:
Honoring Father Justin Henkel, C.PP.S. and Father Ralph Verdi, C.PP.S.
Sunday, July 28, 2013 at 10:30 am, in Assumption Chapel, prior to Sunday liturgy @ 11:00 am.
Sunday Liturgy
Fr. Lee Flaherty, C.PP.S. Presiding
Interested in singing?: contact Bob Hafner at 513-777-0453 or via email @ [email protected]
13
Thoughts in Passing
Writing two pieces for this issue would be
pushing my luck at gaining readership.
But never one to shy away from criticism,
there are so many issues floating around
just now that I can’t resist the opportunity
to say something.
Fresh from the presentations by Bill
Huebsch at the KC Province Assembly,
I’ve been encouraged by the enthusiasm
for his message among the Members and
Companions of that province. We came
home to find a recent America magazine
and the National Catholic Report waiting
with more fuel for the Spirit. In an
America magazine article, Martin Marty,
the Protestant Theologian/Historian from
University of Chicago wrote regarding the
fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II. A
thought that struck us most was his
comment about how discouraged most of
us have become in the failure of the great
work of Vatican II to take hold in the
hierarchical part of church. He commented
that we should have expected this. After
all the work of implementing the work of
Vatican II was given over to the Curia.
Most of the minority fathers of the council
were serving the church in the Curia during
Vatican II. No wonder there has be
retrenchment and selection of bishops and
cardinals who are in line with the minority
view of the Council.
To prepare for the Assembly Carol and I
read John O’Malley’s What Happened at
Vatican II.. O’Malley goes to great length
to not use the terms conservative and
progressive his historical study. He uses
the terms minority and majority instead. If
conservative means back to basics and an
appreciation of the past, then the majority,
often called progressive are really the
conservative element.. The majority
applied the French concept of
ressourcement in the work of the council.
In addition they returned to the writing
style of the Fathers of the Church and of
the Scriptures as their model for expressing
the outcomes of their work.
Ressourcement, according to O’Malley
has to do with the discovery of the historic,
cultural and ritual practices of the early
Church. The Minority used material
developed at the Council of Trent and in
subsequent Councils. Vatican II did return
to the sources, conserving and bringing up
to date (aggiornamento) the
understandings and practices of the early
Christian communities. In addition, the
Majority understood, as John Henry
Newman pointed out in his 1878 essay On
The Development of Christian Doctrine,
that doctrine continues to expand based on
Christian experience living out the truths
of our faith. Doctrine continues to evolve.
The term evolution came into use in the
workings of Vatican II.
I’d recommend O’Malley’s work to
anyone interested in understanding what it
was that happened pro and con in the years
since Vatican II.
A recent issue of the National Catholic
Reporter carried an essay by Fr. George
McLean, professor emeritus of Philosophy
at Catholic University. He speaks of four
disjunctions between the Church and the
People of God. I’m quoting directly from
his essay.
The first disjunction regards the
seekers who launch out beyond the
church, often in search of seemingly
more authentic but perhaps less
conscious paths to God. The second is
alienation from the church’s
Magisterium or teaching practice as it
increasingly took on a more legislative
tone that returned obedience in a
world accustomed only to critical
attention. The third disjunction may
be the most keenly felt, namely the
less adaptive character of a natural law
morality in a world sensitized to
progressive change particularly in the
area of sexuality. Finally, a fourth
disjunction opens as a plurality of
spiritualities become evident through
our new global awareness of the many
religious traditions, as well as for the
many who consider themselves to be
“spiritual but not religious.”
There are solutions for each of these
disjunctions. He points out that each
causes suffering within the church. It is in
facing the darkness of our situation that
we begin to overcome darkness.
The conclusion is that the work of Vatican
II has not been rescinded by the Minority.
Instead, we now must work for its promise
and be buoyed in this raging sea by the
understanding that we can make a
difference and can ascent the mountain.
Christianity is all about relationship with
Jesus. Vatican II’s work was about
making that relationship relevant to our
time, an aggiornamento.
Bill Huebsch pointed out that Vatican II
was the first Council of the twenty one
that didn’t result in canons, new laws to be
14
followed: it was the first one that didn’t
declare anyone anathema. It was the first
one to be pastoral, speaking in language
that can be understood without a juris
prudence degree.
What is happening in the church in our
time is a re-establishment of a juridical
system . Curial and hierarchical leaders
are more interested in unthinking, blind
obedience. That is the faith of the
inquisition — a faith of the mouth and not
of the heart. Recently local bishops in
North Carolina spent $200,000 to pass the
marriage amendment. Personally, I’m not
certain that the term marriage ought to be
applied to all committed unions. Be that as
it may, the North Carolina amendment
went beyond a simple definition of the
term marriage as between a man and a
woman. It, by amendment to the state
constitution, disallowed any civil union
whether between same gender or opposite
gender persons. It conceded that hospital
visitation rights and such could be
achieved by an appeal to a court of law.
But of course! How would that work,
exactly? One party of a committed
relationship is dying of accident and the
partner has to find a court docket that
would allow for his/her petition?
The current flap over hierarchical power
and influence in our personal and political
lives certainly calls us to pay more
attention to the law of the land and to be
vocal in expressing our views. It would be
encouraging for the hierarchy to rely more
fully on the declaration On Religious
Liberty than they do. The primacy of
individual conscience is often overlooked.
One bishop added to the statement that all
consciences had to conform with Catholic
teachings in order to be considered well
formed. Certainly not the intent of the
declaration.
There is work to be done. There is study to
be completed. There is understanding to
be gained. There is much prayer for
guidance and for the coming of the Spirit.
Perhaps our current situation may be best
described by a dear friend of ours. “They
have locked up the Spirit in an iron clad
box and placed it in the deepest archives of
the Vatican to be released only at the hand
of the Pope.” But the Spirit taught us by
Lechner, Maziarz, Bierbeg, Siebeneck,
Dorenkemper, Seigman, Hunnefeld and
Kaiser goes where She wills.
Dennis Keller
Kansas City Assembly
Tom Welk discussing a point with Carol Keller
Fr. John Wolf reviewing the day’s schedule
Jubiliarians: l to r Fathers Mike Volkmer, Vince
Hoying, Jim Sloan, Paul Sander, Joe Uecker
Fr. Bill Miller looking over day’s
material.
Fathers Tom Albers, Tim Guthridge and Bill Miller
Ordination class of 1968: Fr. Mike Volkmer, Amicus Dennis Keller,
Fr. Joseph Uecker, Fr. Dennis Schaab: Absent : Fr. Larry Eiting
deceased, Fr. Emil Labbe, deceased, Amicus Tim Dillon.
Fr. Joe Uecker with two Dennis’ - Fr.
Schaab and Keller
Fr. Mark Miller, Dennis Keller, Fr. Vince
Hoying
Fr. Mike Goode, Sister Kris Vorenkamp S.L.W, Fr. Joe Uecker, Sister
Rebecca Otter O.P., Carol Keller
Friends from Liberty, Joe and Eileen Berry
15