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Fr. Dennis and the Curse of the Jilted Jesuit
By Fr. Dennis | June 18, 2008
Sounds like the first in a series of mystery stories a la Nancy Drew, doesn’t it? Well, there’s a story, anyway.
Last Sunday, you’ll recall, I had noon mass at the parish where I was baptized, All Saints Church in St. Peter’s, Missouri. As mass began, the pastor came out to briefly introduce me before I continued on with mass. His introduction was something like:
Today, I want to introduce to you Fr. Dennis Schenkel, a priest of the Diocese of Memphis who was ordained only a week ago. Fr. Dennis is here today because this is the parish where he was baptized.
Now, many of you may know the legend that has been in this parish for many many years, that back in the earliest days of this parish, one of the pioneer Jesuit fathers who worked here was mistreated by the parishioners, and in response he placed a curse on this parish that we would never have a vocation to the priesthood.
Today, Fr. Dennis has broken the curse because he’s the first priest from this parish in the 185 year history of All Saints! Thank you, Fr. Dennis!
It was like playing for the 2004 Red Sox.
Topics: Baptism, History, News, Ordination, humor |
June 18th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Wow! Had you known about this growing up, or was this the first you’d heard of it?
June 18th, 2008 at 10:37 am
It was the first time I had ever heard of it. Pretty cool, huh?
June 19th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Great story!
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:54 pm
may a special anointing be upon your head, and may it run down and fill your beard until it drips and covers your feet.
Blessed are you, oh Lord our God, King of the universe, who has given us the gift of this man, Your son, to break the bonds of the curse; may it no longer have a hold on the laborers called from this flock. Amein
June 30th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
That’s really something - parishioners mistreating their priest…the early history of Ferdinand, Indiana, has a similar story. The entire parish was even forced under a partial interdict at one point.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
St. Alphonsus in Peru, Ohio used to be pretty wild, too. But they had St. John Neumann and St. Xavier Seelos as priests for a short while, so you see that God thinks wild parishes have their uses!
July 7th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
The only mystery to me is who killed Fr. Dennis’ blog? Let’s get the Hardy Boys on the case.
July 9th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Apparently an unsolved mystery.
AMDG,
Janet
July 10th, 2008 at 7:14 am
I guess I’m failing in my duty. I’ll put something up today, as I think I have an idea of something worth saying.