19 March 2025 · 2025-03 newsletter
March 19th is also the day on which we remember the name day of our father and founder – Father Joseph Kentenich.
Most of us know something of the life of our father and founder, but it is hoped that these small snippets from his life might help us to gain a better understanding of the person of father through the way he interacted with people during his lifetime.
SNIPPETS FROM THE LIFE OF FATHER KENTENICH
1. HIS EARLY YEARS
The Church Tower Caper
One of the things that Joseph was part of was a caper at the local church: Joseph, Peter (his cousin), and the son of the sacristan decided it would make a fine adventure to climb up through the onion shaped church tower of St. Cunibert’s Church. They noticed that there was a little door on top of the church that would let them climb out on the copper roof. In the midst of their prank, the parish priest spotted the three daredevils. He quietly locked the door behind them and went to get the sacristan! While he was gone, the three boys realized that they had been trapped and were in trouble, so they looked for another way down– and quickly! They found a place where they could slip into the church through an opening in the ceiling near the altar. From there they could jump and slide down the pillars to safety. By the time the pastor returned with the sacristan, the boys had made their escape, and the good priest was left to wonder how they had gotten away.
Priest– or Engineer?
From early on, Joseph showed an interest in becoming a priest. But as a boy he liked to take things apart and reassemble them. One time, absorbed in such a mechanical task, he told his cousin Mathias Peters that he would like to be an engineer. While this did not turn out to be his vocation, he always maintained a great respect for laymen in all lines of work, including those (like Gilbert Schimmel of Milwaukee) who were mechanically inclined. (From: Brushstrokes of a Father, Vol. 1, Fr. Jonathan Niehaus)
2. SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR IN SCHOENSTATT
Like a Mother
The following example, told many years later by one of the boys who later became a priest, shows something of his (Father Kentenich’s) “motherly” touch: A small shy boy stood in the hallway with bandaged hands. He had a kind of eczema. Because of this his classmates avoided him. It was understandable that he was especially homesick for his mother. Father observed the little guy whom he had not yet met, stopped and asked what was on his hands. The boy answered and let Father unbandage and look at his hands. At this very moment the homesickness vanished from the boy’s soul. The other boys even envied his hands. Until today the mature priest gladly and gratefully looks back on the fatherly-motherly concern shown him at that time.
The Blanket
During the same years, Fr. Kentenich often had to turn his fatherly attention to the physical needs of the boys in the seminary. The deprivation was often extreme.
A relatively minor hardship– at first – was having to leave their well-heated school on the hill (it became a military hospital) and move into the “Old House” across from the Shrine. This old building was not well insulated against the cold, and as coal began to be rationed, the winters became a time of much suffering from cold. …. One source tells us: Things got especially harsh in the bitter winter of 1916-17– the winter when the Rhine froze over.
Boarding schools like the one in Schoenstatt were especially hard hit. Shortages of fuel and clothing added to the misery. During this time the spiritual director was truly a mother to his boys. They sought refuge in his room, and he let them warm themselves.
They could weep over the things that hurt them, and angrily denounce the injustices, to which he listened in silence. It often happened that he asked who was suffering most from hunger (if the gauntness of the face did not give it away from the start).
He would make sure this boy received an extra slice of bread with something on it, saved from his own meagre rations. In this horribly cold winter, he learned that one boy was especially suffering from the bitter cold. Through one of the sodality leaders he sent him his own blanket, with the request that he return it in the spring.
(From: Brushstrokes of a Father, Vol. 2, Fr. Jonathan Niehaus)
3. DACHAU
He Listened to Me
Fr. Heinz Dresbach who was in Dachau with Father Kentenich relates:
I had already met Fr. Kentenich before I came to Dachau. I took part in one of his retreats for priests in 1940.
When Father came to Dachau, he was in the admissions block for seven months. In October 1942 he finally came to us in Block 26, the German priests’ block. I tried to meet with him. The easiest way to do this was to ask to go to confession with him.
I will never forget the special way he listened to me – it was the first time that I came just a little closer in personal contact with anyone. It was an unforgettable event and experience for me.
I asked myself for a long time, “Why is this so different from anything else I’ve experienced?” The way he listened almost caught me off guard inside. I tried to find ways to formulate it for myself, so that I could get a better grip on it. For instance, I said to myself that I have never had such a “listening session” in my life, where someone listened with such interest that he practically took in everything I said, causing me to reveal still more…….
Whenever he suggested something, it was always with a great respect for my freedom. It might be a good thing if you would especially work on this in the coming time.
This could help you in this or that way, could have this or that advantage, etc. He would nudge me a little in a certain direction. And the way he spoke and worded things and how he stressed things, was so positive that one never had the impression of being criticized on even the smallest point. Quite the opposite. His interest was palpable.
(From: Brushstrokes of a Father, Vol.3)
He would nudge me a little in a certain direction. And the way he spoke and worded things and how he stressed things, was so positive that one never had the impression of being criticized on even the smallest point. Quite the opposite. His interest was palpable.
(From: Brushstrokes of a Father, Vol.3)
4. MILWAUKEE
Father and the Soup
The Schimmels had a cabin on a beautiful lake in central Wisconsin. One time they were able to invite Fr. Kentenich to visit this special place in their lives. Another priest was along to visit the Schimmels as well. Mrs. Schimmel remembered a little episode that meant a great deal to her. She had made a soup for everyone to eat and served it in the cabin. But she did not feel worthy to eat with such exalted guests, so she served the priests and men and then went to the kitchen to eat by herself.
At this Fr. Kentenich told Gilbert he should get his wife; she should eat with the guests, too. But she didn’t want too. Finally, Father had Gilbert relay the message: “Father is not going to start eating until you come out and join us.” So, she came out and joined the group. She greatly appreciated this sign of respect from Father.
Receiving with one hand, giving with the other
Story from Joanna Schimmel)
There was Father’s great love for giving that not only impressed us but deeply touched us. On one occasion I presented a gift to him. He accepted it so graciously with one hand. Then he reached over and gave it to another person who was in the room.
At first this tendency to give was hard to understand, but gradually I comprehended. It made me happy to know that I gave him the opportunity to be able to give a gift to someone else. This is what really made him happy.
Another idea that came to my mind was: “Father has nothing of his own, and yet his hands are always filled so that he can give to others.”
A little incident happened in regard to a birthday cake that one of my daughters made for him. It really was a very pretty cake because she had decorated it so nicely. We were very proud to give something so nice to him. That same evening one of the other couples also met with him. The lady called and said, “We went to visit Father and what do you think we got?”
“Could it be a cake?” I asked, “Oh no!” she said.
This told the entire story. He received from one and gave to the other.
(From: “Brushstrokes of a Father”. Vol.5)
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