A Teacher Graduates

In my years as a funeral director, I've come to know many of our local church leaders.

We work together in the planning and executing of funeral services, in their church homes or in ours, and we usually share a ride together between the site of the ceremony and the cemetery.

During those rides, conversation varies in topic and length, but I've come to count on getting an education from one local religious leader who is due to retire this month.


Monsignor George J. Schlegel who, after nearly 17 years at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and 44 years as a priest, has a well earned retirement only months after observing his 70th birthday.


I recognize that there is some risk in writing about one pastor upon his retirement but I admit regret in not recognizing the retirements of some other pastoral gems in our community, including Terry Kidd from the Nazarene Church, the late Steve Daniels from Dover's St. Johns United Church of Christ, and our friend Mark Trotter, who was called to continue his ministry in the Columbus area from New Philadelphia's First Baptist Church.


A mentor of mine once reminded me that "There's never a bad time to do the right thing" and thus, I hope you'll permit me to share a few thoughts about Monsignor Schlegel.


I grew up in New Philadelphia's First United Methodist Church, and one day, I suspect that they'll carry my casket out the doors of that church and to the cemetery. Despite the best efforts of my family, I was no good at Sunday School. I missed a lot about church history.


And so, when Monsignor Schlegel and I had a few minutes together following the committal service at the cemetery and on the way back to the church, I was treated to a session of "everything you ever wanted to know about Church – but were afraid to ask".


I went from a mysterious observation of the Catholic Church to an appreciation for the traditions, reverence, and meaning of the music, readings, and actions of the local church parishes.


In a word, Monsignor Schlegel is a learned man.


I say so because he could speak without notes on just about any Saint, especially those whom he thought had become overshadowed by St. Valentine or St. Patrick, as I came to appreciate on one particular journey from the cemetery.


In another word, I'll remember Monsignor as a man of compassion.


Shortly after becoming a funeral director, I received a telephone call from a local hospital. A baby had been born prematurely, stillborn, and unwanted by her parents. The baby had been given no name, and there would be no effort by the family to claim her for burial.


At the suggestion of Rich Geib II, I telephoned Monsignor Schlegel who was his usual pleasant self on the telephone. He offered to donate a grave for use in St. Elizabeth's Cemetery at Roswell.


We donated a casket and our services and at the designated hour of the designated day, Monsignor Schlegel and I rode together to Roswell, where he proceeded to officiate a graveside committal service for the baby girl he declared that day would be named Mary. As I stood on the hilltop that day, my appreciation for his vocation was sealed.


It isn't easy being a priest today.


Hospitals no longer release information about members of a congregation who are admitted or discharged, so many church offices are reliant upon hearing from family or friends of an illness or imminent death.


Highly publicized scandals in other parts of the country cast an undeserved portrayal of the lives of innocent and honorable priests.


Longstanding church rules dictate what can and cannot be done in church. Although somehow, Father Schlegel always managed to accommodate the family who wanted the Lutheran minister to say a few words at the funeral mass, or permit cousin Tommy, who was a priest from a far away community to celebrate mass.


In a third and final word, Monsignor Schlegel has epitomized what it means to be unassuming.


Learned

Compassionate

Unassuming



That's how I'll remember Monsignor Schlegel.


It is said that when a person passes away, it is like having a library burn to the ground.


Thankfully, Father Schlegel is merely relocating his "permanent collection" of knowledge a bit closer to Columbus, and his reference desk, I suspect, will still kindly answer the telephone and have ready the most complete answer to a question you or I could think possible.


Please join me in wishing Father Schlegel a long, healthy and happy retirement.