APRIL 8, 2016 | THELEAVEN.ORG
LOCAL NEWS
Even in retirement, Father Bertels served >> Continued from page 3 priest. He was serious about his duties, and he was there for the people at all times. And he was very supportive of Catholic education and of stewardship.” “I remember in one of his homilies how he expressed how he loved being a priest,” she added. “You could tell this was true by the way he lived his life.” Father Bertels led the effort to plan and build a new parish center and school addition at St. Gregory Parish. Also, during his second term at Marysville, he was injured during a fire that destroyed the rectory. Father Jim Shaughnessy, who at the time was at a parish to the south, remembered Father Bertels’ keen interest in Catholic education, ministry to the sick and to those who had left the faith. “He was always an evangelizer, working one-on-one,” said Father Shaughnessy. “He was always working on bringing people back to the church. Everyone knew him. He was a kind of self-appointed hospital chaplain, visiting every room about every day.” Monsignor Michael Mullen, pastor of St. Patrick Church in Kansas City, Kansas, in his homily at the Mass of Christian Burial, noted what a warm, welcoming figure Father Bertels was, especially to new Catholics. “His teaching, his preaching, his sacramental ministry, especially in baptism and through the Eucharist, gave our new Catholics an exciting view of life, how to live in this world in Christ and how to be one with Jesus in eternity,” he said. “What hope [he] gave!” “Father Bertels was a priest for 61 years,” he said later. “He was Father Bertels 24/7, as we say. He was always humble, focused on his vocation, grateful for God’s call in his life.” Father Bertels was the kind of priest
to whom younger priests looked up. “He was a priest’s priest and a man’s man,” said Father Richard McDonald, pastor of Holy Angels Parish in Basehor. “He was very kindly toward women. He would assist any priest if asked, if he possibly could. He was helping other parishes right to the end. One of the two Sisters of Charity who helped him said she’d never seen him do a selfish thing. “ An example of his unselfishness was his prison ministry. Although retired, he was at the federal prison three days a week, arriving at 6 a.m. and staying until 9 p.m., completely exhausting himself. “He spent himself entirely on [the prisoners],” said Father McDonald. “He allowed himself to receive the insults and displaced anger of those men. He knew they had no one to vent to, so they’d vent to him. The Sisters thought he was heroic.” “He loved being a priest,” confirmed Father Dennis Schaab, CPPS, chaplain to the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. He and Father Bertels shared the priests’ residence at the Sister of Charity of Leavenworth motherhouse. “He was very prayerful, always reliable, and always on time — a good example to me,” Father Schaab continued. “He thought every priest should work in a prison. Kind of like the pope, he thought the church should go out and help people.” Father Bertels was preceded in death by his parents and a sibling, Sister Marie Ann Bertels, SCL. He is survived by a sister, Delores Bolin of Goddard. The Mass of Christian Burial was held for Father Bertels on April 5 at the Annunciation Chapel at the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth motherhouse. The celebrant was Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann. Burial was at St. Joseph Cemetery in Nortonville. Memorials are suggested to the seminary en-
Assignments • 1955: Assistant pastor at St. Rose of Lima Parish, Kansas City, Kansas, and taught at Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City, Kansas • 1957: Studies in canon law at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. Graduated with a Licentiate in Canon Law degree • 1958: Chaplain at Providence Hospital Kansas City, Kansas • 1959: Assisting at Sts. Cyril & Methodius Parish in Kansas City, Kansas • 1960: Administrator pro tempore of St. Joseph Parish, Kansas City, Kansas • 1961: Pastor of St. Joseph of the Valley, rural Leavenworth County • 1965: Pastor of St. Lawrence in Easton and St. Joseph of the Valley • 1966: Pastor of St. Casimir in Leavenworth • 1972: Chaplain at U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth • 1981: Pastor of St. Gregory Parish in Marysville • 1991: Pastor of Prince of Peace Parish in Olathe • 1996: Pastor of St. Gregory Parish in Marysville • 2001: Pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Topeka • 2006: Pastor of Sacred HeartSt. Joseph Parish, Topeka • 2007: Retired, but continued to serve as judge on the archdiocesan tribunal, celebrate Mass at the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, and was a part-time chaplain at the Leavenworth Veterans Administration Medical Center.
dowment fund of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. Funeral arrangements were by R.L. Leintz Funeral Home of Leavenworth.
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Jane (Johnson) and Richard Elliot, members of St. Stanislaus Parish, Rossville, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on April 16. The couple was married on April 16, 1966, at St. Joseph Church in Conway Springs. Their children are: Kirk Elliott of Emporia and Amy Eaton of Nickerson. They also have two grandchildren. Robert and Joyce (Castanieto) Terry, members of Sacred Heart Parish, Shawnee, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on April 16 with family and friends. The couple was married on April 16, 1966, at St. John the Baptist Church, Kansas City, Kansas. They have two daughters — Michelle Hardy and Annette Ruiz — and two grandchildren. LaVonna and Ron Brown, longtime members of Holy Angels Parish, B a s e hor, and currently members of St. Paul Church, Delphos, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on April 16 with Mass, a renewal of vows and a gathering with their family and friends. The couple was married on April 16, 1966, at St. Paul, by Father Robert Vering.
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Priest sought to nourish Catholics, non-Catholics alike >> Continued from page 3 was when Father Hays began writing books in 1978. Eventually, he wrote more than 30 books and founded Forest of Peace Publishing, now owned by Ave Maria Press. Some of his most popular titles include “Prayers for the Domestic Church,” “A Pilgrim’s Almanac,” “Twelve and One Half Keys,” “The Ethiopian Tattoo Shop” and “The Old Hermit’s Almanac.” “My desire is to write so inclusively and ecumenically that any reader will be able to find spiritual nourishment in my books, regardless of their Christian denomination, and even if they are non-Christian,” said Father Hays in an interview on his website. “I believe the great challenge facing religious writers of this new millennium is to be able to speak to all people of good will, to all who love God regardless by what name they address the divine mystery.” He also said this about writer’s block: “I like to say that I only take dictation: The Spirit is the scribe; I’m only the pen.” “He proceeded to become a prolific and ever-changing fountain of theology and wisdom and insight,” said Pat Marrin, editor of Celebration Publications in Kansas City, Missouri. “He must have reached literally millions of people — not only in the United
States but around the world. I suspect in the spiritual writing world he’s right up there with Henri Nouwen, Richard Rohr, Thomas Berry and others who contributed enormously to the growing edge of a theology that has to be rearticulated or it loses its relevancy to people.” One of the many people who knew Father Hays was a fellow priest, Father Mark Mertes, pastor of Our Lady & St. Rose, Christ the King and Blessed Sacrament parishes in Kansas City, Kansas. “Ed was and is bigger than life,” said Father Mertes. “He’s whimsical, challenging, provocative and grounded. Ed was both traditional and revolutionary. He was a synthesizer. He brought together various ways of looking at life and spirituality and the church. It was part of his genius. He synthesized so much spirituality and rooted it in the Christ experience.” One could say that Father Hays wrote his own conclusion in his Holy Week blog entry, “The Door of Death.” “On our fateful day, like the dying Jesus, we will plunge into oneness in the Mystery of Life, God.” Father Hays was preceded in death by his parents and two siblings: Joe Hays and Sister Jane Hays, SCL. He is survived by a brother, Tom Hays. The funeral Mass for Father Hays,
Assignments • 1958: Associate pastor at Christ the King Parish in Kansas City, Kansas • 1960: Associate pastor at Assumption Parish in Topeka • 1964: Administrator pro tempore at St. Bernard Parish in Wamego • 1964: Pastor at St. Dominic Parish in Holton, St. Francis Parish in Mayetta, and chaplain at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine on the Potawatomi Indian Reservation. • 1971: On leave for a year • 1972-95: Established and served as director of Shantivanam, an archdiocesan house of prayer. • 1996: Sabbatical for a year • 1997: Chaplain at three correctional facilities in Lansing, and the ministry of writing for the church • 2001: Retired
with Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann as celebrant, was celebrated on April 7 at St. Joseph Church in Leavenworth. Father Hays was buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery at St. Joseph of the Valley Parish in rural Leavenworth County. Funeral arrangements were by the R.L. Leintz Funeral Home of Leavenworth.
Heschmeyer receives the ministry of acolyte
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n March 13, Cardinal James Michael Harvey, archpriest of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, conferred the ministry of acolyte in the chapel of the Pontifical North American College, Rome, on Joseph Heschmeyer, a member of Church of the Nativity in Leawood and a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. In all, 42 men received the ministry of acolyte. The seminarians, Joseph Heschmeyer currently in their second year of formation for the priesthood, will have two additional years of theological studies and spiritual formation before being ordained to the priesthood in their home dioceses.
Correction The March 18 issue of The Leaven misidentified the church where Robyn Hornstein gave her presentation on Divine Mercy as part of The Leaven’s 24 Hours For the Lord coverage. Hornstein spoke at St. Joseph Church in Leavenworth. The Leaven regrets the error.