FULLERTON – Eight priests serving the Archdiocese of Baltimore were honored for their many years of priestly ministry during a special Nov. 7 Mass and reception at St. Joseph in Fullerton.
Combined, their years of priestly service totals 385 years.
Archbishop William E. Lori offered the Mass for priests celebrating milestone jubilee anniversaries, while also remembering priests who have died in the past year. Monsignor George Moeller and Father Joseph Wenderoth are the longest-serving honorees, each celebrating the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.
“It’s hard to believe,” Monsignor Moeller said. “I just thank God for allowing me to do his work.”
Monsignor Moeller has been retired for about 13 years, but he still chooses to keep himself busy.
“Here at Mercy Ridge (the Timonium retirement community where he lives), I say Mass every day,” he said, “and the best part is getting to know so many good people here at Mercy Ridge. And administering the sacraments, like the sacrament of the anointing – it really touches people and that makes me feel really good.”
Early in his ministry, Monsignor Moeller was assigned to two parishes in the city just as the population was diminishing and they faced financial difficulties.
“It was a critical time for those parishes,” he said. “When I was sent there, the people thought it was to close the parish. I told them, the only way we have to close the parish is if they don’t support it, so they pulled together, and it worked out fine. I always say we can handle anything if we work together. People respect that.”
In between parish assignments, Monsignor Moeller spent about nine years working in the clergy personnel office, first as an associate director, and then as the director.
He laughingly recalled his mother’s reaction to his working at the Catholic Center.
“My mother commented that when I went from a large parish like St. Elizabeth’s to an associate director, it looked like a demotion,” he recalled. “I told her there was a need there and I was filling the need.”
Another Mercy Ridge resident, Father Wenderoth, said he has also enjoyed his decades of ministry.
“I’ve enjoyed the people of God treating me so beautifully,” he said.
Father Wenderoth offers Mass every Sunday for the Sisters of Mercy at Springwell, a retirement home for the sisters just north of Baltimore.
“I also help at Stella Maris,” he said. “It’s great to be able to do that. It’s not that far away so I can get there easily.”
Initially, Father Wenderoth was an associate pastor of St. William of York in Baltimore.
“I had a gem of a pastor there, Father Jack Albert,” he said. “He was very instructional.”
Father Wenderoth helped out at a few of the inner-city parishes during the time of the civil rights movement, but for most of his priesthood, he worked in correctional ministry in Baltimore City doing administration work and management.
“I’ve had a tremendous time,” Father Wenderoth said, “and now I’m here at Mercy Ridge and I couldn’t ask for anything nicer. It’s wonderful here. I couldn’t be happier.”
At the Mass at St. Joseph’s, Archbishop William E. Lori mentioned in the homily that the Mass was taking place the evening before the election, but that those priests who had passed away were a different kind of “elect,” that is, chosen, “without any terms limits.”
He said the number of priests of the Archdiocese of Baltimore over the decades who have gone before us in faith far outnumber those who are in active service. “We should do for them what our great high priest enabled us to do,” which is to pray for them.
The “divine electoral process” is a way for the Lord to take up to himself the deceased priests who, in their lifetimes, were agents of evangelization.”We can pray for them and they can pray for us,” the archbishop said.
In light of eternity, all the things that seemed so divisive on earth seem so inconsequential, he said.
Auxiliary Bishops Adam J. Parker and Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., and more than 60 priests concelebrated the Mass.
The Mass was followed by a dinner, at which those celebrating anniversaries were honored, along with those priests ordained for the archdiocese this year.
60 Years of Priestly Ministry
Father Monsignor George Moeller
Father Joseph R. Wenderoth
50 Years of Priestly Ministry
Father Robert E. Albright
Monsignor Richard Cramblitt
Monsignor Jeremiah F. Kenney
Monsignor G. Michael Schleupner
40 Years of Priestly Ministry
Father Patrick M. Carrion
25 Years of Priestly Ministry
Father Anthony Abiamiri
Christopher Gunty contributed to this story.
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