Former East Baltimore Redemptorist pastor dies at 85

Redemptorist Father Richard Poetzel, a former pastor of his home parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus in Highlandtown and Our Lady of Fatima in Baltimore, died Sept. 24 at the St. John Neumann community at Stella Maris in Timonium. He was 85.

“He really was Highlandtown’s priest,” said Father Poetzel’s nephew, Barry Grzechowiak, in an email. “He was outgoing and loved to talk to people. What came across to most people was his willingness to listen to them and be there for them. He had a welcoming presence and he genuinely cared for them.”

Father Poetzel was born to Carl and Magdalen (Weber). He had three brothers, Carroll, Jackie and Gerard and one sister, Mary Ann. He attended Sacred Heart’s parish school, and was an altar server at Sacred Heart of Jesus. He knew he wanted to be a priest from a young age, according to Grzechowiak.

“It was a close-knit family and still is,” Grzechowiak said. “He always seemed to be around when I was young. It was so nice when he came home to serve at Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Lady of Fatima parishes in Baltimore. We were able to go to his Masses and see him all the time.”  

From 1951 to 1957 Poetzel attended St. Mary’s Preparatory Seminary in North East, Pa., and professed temporary vows at St. Mary’s, Ilchester in 1958. He professed perpetual vows on Sept. 2, 1961 at Mount St. Alphonus Seminary in Esopus, N.Y., where he was ordained on June 23, 1963.

“His faith defined him,” Grzechowiak recalled. “He was a priest through and through and I can’t tell you how much he loved it. He loved the religious life.”

Father Poetzel obtained a master’s degree in library science in 1968 from The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., as well as a master’s degree in liturgical theology from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana in 1975.

He was assigned to the community at Holy Redeemer College in Washington D.C. from 1964 to 1965, and Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary in Esopus N.Y. where he taught liturgy and served as the librarian from 1965 to 1985.

“Whatever he was asked to do in ministry he did it,” recalled former student and friend Redemptorist Father Michael Sergi, a former pastor of St. Wenceslaus in Baltimore and Our Lady of Fatima in Baltimore who now serves as pastor of St. Gerard in Lima, Ohio.

“He put his whole heart and soul into it,” Father Sergi said. “I think it gave him joy that he had a hand in forming us, in helping us.”

Father Poetzel was involved in Marriage Encounter in the Hudson Valley, and was a chaplain to the Christian Brothers in West Park, periodically giving seminars in liturgical theology to religious sisters at the Redemptoristine monastery in Esopus.

Father Poetzel went to be rector of the St. John Neumann Residence in Saratoga Springs N.Y. from 1985 to 1987, ministering with retired Redmptorists. He then was appointed pastor of his home parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus where he served until 1993, when he became associate pastor of Our Lady of Fatima in Baltimore and then pastor in 2015.

Father Poetzel enjoyed devoting spare time to family research and genealogy.

“He was the original Ancestry.com,” joked Redemptorist Father Robert Harrison, a former pastor of Our Lady of Fatima who served with Father Poetzel. “He had an insatiable interest in his family history. He spent most of his vacation time at Sacred Heart of Jesus combing through the baptismal records.”

Grzechowiak confirmed his uncle’s passion for family research.

“He loved pictures and working on our family tree,” he remembered. “He often brought it with him when he came over to visit. He discovered that we were distant relatives of Babe Ruth.”

Father Poetzel cared for parishioners and strangers alike.

“Richard made a point of personally going to the bank every week to make the deposit, but also to converse with the tellers and the people standing in line,” Father Harrison recalled. “Many times I offered to do it and was turned down.”

In January 2018 Father Poetzel transferred to the St. John Neumann Residence in Timonium due to declining health.

“I think he’d want to be remembered as a good and faithful servant of God’s people,” Father Sergi said. “He was a terrific servant to God. Just by his life he showed what it meant.”

During Father Poetzel’s Sept. 30 funeral Mass at Sacred Heart of Jesus-Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, Baltimore Auxiliary Bishop Bruce Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., said his friend’s three great loves were liturgy, the bereavement ministry through which he “had a heart for the heartbroken” and most especially his religious community, the Redemptorists.

Father Poetzel had the unique distinction of being with his brother Redemptorists both when they were in the seminary and then at the end of their lives when they were at the Redmptorist retirement community, Bishop Lewandowski said.

“He was there at their start and at their finish line,” the bishop said. 

George Matysek Jr. contributed to this story. 

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