November 18, 2011
Father Bill Dietsch to observe 40th anniversary
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Father William “Bill” Dietsch will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving on the occasion of his fortieth anniversary as a priest, at St. Wendel Church in St. Wendel, on Sunday, Dec. 18.
The Mass, at 11 a.m. CST, will be followed by a reception in the parish hall for family and friends.
Father Dietsch, 68, was born in Snake Run, one of the six children of Edward and Marie (Hasenour) Dietsch. The family’s parish church was St. Wen-del. His schooling included St. Wendel Catholic Elementary School and Mater Dei High School in Evansville. He entered the seminary after three years in the U.S. Navy.
As a seminarian, he studied at St. Mary’s College in St. Mary, Ky., and at the North American College in Rome.
Considering the difficulty and expense for family members to travel to Rome — where a seminarian’s ordination to priesthood was typical at the time — Bishop Francis R. Shea invited Dietsch to come home for ordination at his home parish.
He was ordained by Bishop Shea at St. Wendel Church on Saturday, Dec. 18, 1971.
Father Dietsch was first assigned to St. Theresa Church in Evansville as associate pastor; then to St. Agnes Church where he served as associate pastor and also as a teacher at Mater Dei High School and Dirctor of Christian Young Ad-ults.
Further assignments as associate pastor included a return to St. Therese Church and then Holy Cross Church in Fort Branch.
He was named to his first pastorate at Mary, Help of Christ-ians Church in Mariah Hill, in 1979; then Nativity Church in Evansville in 1987 and Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Petersburg in 1990.
In more recent years, he was pastor of Mary, Help of Christians Church in Mariah Hill and St. John Chrysostom Church in New Boston. He retired in 2008.