May 13, 2011
Bishop Gettelfinger celebrates golden jubilee of ordination to priesthood
As his family members watch, Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger processes up the aisle at St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville at the beginning of a Mass celebrating his golden jubilee of ordination to the priesthood. They include, front row, Jean Batliner, Fritz Gettelfinger, Joe Batliner, Helen Gettelfinger, second row, Nettie Swank, Tony Gettelfinger, Agnes Marie Ernstberger and Judy Gettelfinger. Father Donald Ackerman, a retired priest of the Diocese of Evansville who was the bishop's classmate at St. Meinrad, gave the homily during the Mass. He mentioned the bishop's family, noting “you often mentioned how supportive your siblings and parents were along your road of the priesthood and as bishop. How blessed you are with such a loving family.” (Message photo by Mary Ann Hughes) Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
It was a beautiful blue sky kind of day last Friday, but Joan (Gettelfinger) Marguet was remembering a rainy day 50 years ago.
It was May of 1961, and her brother, Gerry, was being ordained at St. Meinrad Archabbey.
“It was raining at St. Meinrad,” she said, remembering his ordination and “it was pre-Vatican II.
“A lot of the members in the family were in the choir loft,” she said, and her parents, Gerald and Mary, arrived late because her mom was ill.
Despite the rain and their late arrival, Marguet said, “it was a really happy day — with a lot of distractions. Our mom had been sick, and she got well enough to be there.”
The ordination “was something our mother had looked forward to for 12 years,” while her son attended high school, college and seminary at St. Meinrad, and on that day, “she was very happy. She really was.”
This past Friday, priests, deacons, diocesan staff members and members of the Gettelfin-ger family gathered at St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville to celebrate Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger’s golden jubilee of ordination.
Deacon Earl Ruppel drove in from St. Thomas Church in Vincennes for the Mass. “I felt a closeness to the bishop,” he said, “because I’ve know him for so many years.
“I felt that it was important that I wish him well and give him a send-off as he prepares for retirement.”
Father Donald Ackerman, a retired priest of the Diocese of Evansville who was the bishop’s classmate at St. Meinrad, gave the homily during the Mass.
He congratulated the bishop on 50 years as a priest and 22 years “in the fullness of the priesthood — namely a bishop. We are proud of your accomplishments and happy for your many successes.”
He noted that the two of them had entered St. Meinrad Seminary together “along with 80 other students,” and that “we had many happy memories” of those days.
He remembered a young Gerry Gettelfinger who participated in track and field events and played hand ball, and who was one of 12 young men from the original class to be ordained to the priesthood.
Father Ackerman said the “Maryknoll Catholic Directory defines ‘priest’ as follows: A deputy of Jesus Christ who is charged directly and primarily with the extension of the Mys-tical Body of Christ, and who through the reception of Holy Orders, is enabled to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice of the new law. A bishop is said to have the ‘fullness of the priesthood’ because he has the additional power of bestowing Holy Orders and consecrating other bishops.
“A priest is often called ‘alter Christus’ (another Christ) be-cause the faithful should be able to see Christ reflected in his life. You have done that well in your life, Bishop.”
Father Ackerman noted that when the bishop was ordained and installed as the Fourth Bishop of Evansville, Archbish-op Edward T. O’Meara called him “a man of faith, a man of character, a man of prayer . . . a man who loves people.”
Father Ackerman said, “I would say he was right on target.”
He mentioned the bishop’s family, noting “you often mentioned how supportive your siblings and parents were along your road of the priesthood and as bishop. How blessed you are with such a loving family.”
A luncheon was held at the Little Sisters of the Poor home after the Mass. During the lun-cheon, Msgr. Kenneth Knapp, diocesan vicar and pastor at Christ the King Church, Evansville, read a letter from Pope Benedict XVI:
To Our Venerable Brother,
Gerald Andrew Gettelfinger,
the Bishop of Evansville.A joyful celebration, doubtless, will soon take place for you, Venerable Brother, of a life well-lived and of many deeds well done. When this happens, may you observe the fiftieth anniversary of your priesthood happily and favorably.
Fifty years ago, on the seventh day of the month of May, you were ordained a priest; you began to serve and to participate in the ministry of Christ Jesus, prophet, priest, and king (cf. Presbyterorum ordinis, 1). For this reason, We are sending you this congratulatory letter so that your zealous service, which you performed in the sacred sacerdotal office in the Church of Indianapolis for a great stretch of years, may be worthily commemorated, and that your good sense, with which you have governed Christ’s faithful in Evansville as their venerable bishop, might be publicly announced.
Indeed, after you were elevated to the order of the Sacred Presbyterate in 1961, you not only delivered spiritual aid to the faithful in parishes; you also devoted yourself to fashioning the minds and morals of the young. By your guardianship, you defended Catholic schools and you were ever-vigilant for the superior excellence of teachers and students. In addition, you diligently carried out the duties of a Chancellor and a Vicar General of the Church of Indianapolis. With your gifts having been demonstrated by these and other works, Our immediate Predecessor, the Venerable Servant of God John Paul II, created you the bishop of the Diocese of Evansville in 1989. Therein, you have constantly and skillfully overseen the many and weighty rewards of the pastoral office, and which, even now, you watch over with zeal.
This wonderful event is a great joy for Us, as We rejoice with you from the depths of Our heart in the Lord, who is your share of the inheritance and your cup (cf. Psalm 16:5). We give hearty thanks with you for those gifts which, in and through you, He has given to your faithful for these many years. Finally, because of these eagerly-desired rewards of the Divine goodness, the full enjoyment of which God allows even in this world, We impart to you — as well as to the clergy and Christ’s faithful of the Church of Evansville — the Apostolic Blessing. Likewise, We desire to apply it to all who share in your joy.
From the Vatican, on the eighth of April, in the year 2011, the sixth of Our Pontificate.