Fr. Paul Desch, OFM. A Great Blessing for the World. 1929-2017.

Fr. Paul Desch, OFM

This past Tuesday, July 25, 2017, we attended the wake and funeral for Fr. Paul Desch, a Franciscan friar, the great uncle of my son-in-law Brian Homan, and the priest who presided at my daughter Emily's wedding to Brian. The funeral and wake were held at beautiful St. Clement's Church, in the Cincinnati inner-ring suburb of St. Bernard. This is the town where my father-in-law Art Sanders grew up. I think he attended both St. Clement's School for grade school and nearby Roger Bacon High School.

St. Clement, as seen from Vine Street

At Fr. Paul's funeral, St. Clement Church

The wake lasted but an hour and was held in the gathering space of the Church. The place was packed with friars, relatives, and friends, and many people spoke of how Fr. Paul affected their lives. Three special people there were his sister Mary Desch Sowar, and his two brothers. I thought how much they would miss their brother, whom they had known for over 80 years, through umpteen family baptisms, weddings, and funerals where he presided. Not to mention the letters, phone calls, and face-to-face conversations they had with him over 8 decades. The same would be true for his beloved Franciscan brothers, his second family. He had been a Franciscan since 1947, 70 years. The homily at the funeral was given by his dear friend, Fr. Paul Walsman, OFM, who first met Paul as a Freshman in the seminary (when Paul was a Junior). The homily was beautiful. Not exactly eloquent, but human, fun, and deeply touching. Father even sang--something Fr. Paul Desch often did, at mass and during homilies. I imagined how pleased Francis of Assisi would have been with these two priests.

Fr. Paul was actually named Thomas at birth (born in Fresno, California) and didn't receive his religious name, Paul, until he joined the Franciscans. His family had moved from Coldwater, Ohio, a heavily German-Catholic area of west-central Ohio, with the goal of curing his father's tuberculosis. After a few years, they moved back to the Coldwater area.

Thomas/Paul was an outstanding athlete and student in high school at St. Francis Seminary. After this high school seminary (a practice that I don't think is done anymore--high school seminary), Paul attended Duns Scotus College in Southfield, Michigan, where he made his solemn vows in 1951. After college Paul studied at Holy Family Theologate and was ordained a priest on June 8, 1956. So he was a priest for 60+ years.

Paul had many different jobs in his career, from college professor, to campus minister, to parish priest and pastor. I just missed meeting him many times--at St. Francis Church in Over-the Rhine (Cincinnati), and at the St. George Newman Center, adjacent to the University of Cincinnati. I attended St. George and knew two of the priests there, Fr. Joe Rigali, OFM, and Fr. Harry Meyer, a priest of the Diocese of Cincinnati. Fr. Harry presided at Linda and my wedding on May 5, 1978. Little did I know that Fr. Paul Desch was a campus minister there right at that time.

My daughter Emily met Fr. Paul before I did at functions involving the Desch, Sowar, and Homan families. I met him for the first time at Emily and Brian's wedding rehearsal. And then the next day at the wedding and reception. Fr. Paul's homily at their wedding was unforgettable. His sermon was sweet, and personal, and filled with song. He sang, from the pulpit, the German folksong "Du, du, liegst mir im Herzen." This was so appropriate because Em and Brian met in Salzburg, Austria in a German-language study abroad semester. The words of the song say something like, "you, you, lie in my heart; you, you, stay in my mind . . .you don't know how good I am to/for you." Brian and Emily were, and are, good for each other. Fr. Paul captured it. No one will ever forget that homily.

Emily, Fr. Paul, Brian Homan

The funeral mass was full of song ("Amazing Grace," "Sing a New Song," "How Can I Keep from Singing," "I Am the Bread of Life"). Everyone in church sang (and the church was full!). The songs were beautiful and helped send Fr. Paul on his way toward union with God and union with those whose lives he touched. Two were in Latin, and I especially loved them. One was "Ultima," a traditional Franciscan hymn--about the day our lives end and the day we are led into heaven. The other was "Salve Regina," a prayer I said every day of my growing up years as the "Hail Holy Queen." I felt deeply the beauty of the Church and its rituals and traditions.

Fr. Paul is gone. We are both deeply sad--and deeply grateful for his life. What do we do now? Somehow, we have to take on aspects of his life and spirit . . . and sing them out in our own lives.

Eternal rest grant unto Paul, O Lord.

And perpetual light shine upon him!

Hallelujah! A Wonderful Wedding Surprise in Meath, Ireland

My brother Kevin sent this to me. Reminds me of Fr. Paul Desch's approach to things (he sang "Du, Du, Liegst Mir Im Herzen" at my daughter Emily's wedding). This is Fr. Ray Kelly and the wedding took place in Meath, Ireland.



Here's an article from the Irish Times on Fr. Kelly: Fr. Kelly article

What the Church SHOULD Look Like!

Retirement Mass for Fr. Paul Desch OFM--Holy Name Church, Cincinnati.

Holy Name Church, Mt. Auburn, Cincinnati

After the wonderful service at Holy Name

Emily, Fr. Paul Desch OFM, and Brian Homan

Today we attended the retirement mass and celebration for Fr. Paul Desch OFM [Franciscan] at Holy Name Church in the Mt. Auburn neighborhood of Cincinnati. Fr. Paul is a wonderful man and a great priest and minister of the gospel. His church community is joyful, diverse, and a little left of orthodox (Thank God! Thank God!).

Fr. Paul Desch is 85 years old and his ten-year term as pastor is coming to an end. He has built up and maintained a lively community, absolutely infused with the Holy Spirit. Any Christian, no matter the denomination, and I think most non-Christians, would feel at home here. There is a healthy diversity present, black and white, new babies up to Miss Roberto, 101 years old. I met 2 physicians and their 3 children (Mr and Mrs. Rahner), parishioners who come a long way to attend this mass, talked to 3 members of a visiting choir from Munich Germany, and shook hands with and hugged about 20 members of Fr. Desch's family (who are now, by marriage of my daughter Emily to Fr. Paul's grand-nephew Brian Homan, my family). I am so happy to know this interesting, loving family and to have this little connection to Fr. Paul.

Here are some random thoughts about the event:

• the music seemed heavily influenced by African-American church music. The keyboardist, a large black fellow, was incredible, sometimes playing organ and piano simultaneously. His style was lively and fun. The choir was terrific.
• during the sermon, Fr. Paul mentioned how, when we leave church after mass every Sunday, we shouldn't feel like we had just left a funeral. I began to think how often I leave church feeling worse than when I came in. Life is too short for that. The church community should lift you up.
• Fr. Paul makes some modifications, on the fly, to the readings and the prescribed text of the mass. Not sure how conscious all of these modifications are, but they seem to humanize the mass and make it seem more like a communal supper and celebration than the old model of the the priest doing something mysterious and special for us. The mass is our celebration. It is community, communal.
• Fr. Paul's message and style is inclusive, forgiving, and welcoming. It is not the hate-infused message, the condemnations, the narrow-minded focus I have seen in some Catholic churches. Fr. Paul is a community builder and bridge builder.
• It is odd that it's often the older priests, those infused and informed by the ethos of the Second Vatican Council, that communicate this spirit. The older priests are much younger and more open-minded than many of the younger priests. How do you explain that?
• Fr. Paul loves to sing and song can break out at any time during mass. Before the reading of the gospel Lazarus story, Fr. Paul broke out into the old song "Dem Dry Bones." Later, we heard some singing in German, "Du, Du, Liegst Mir im Herzen"--"You, You, Are Deep in My Heart."
• At the end of the mass, Sister Liz extended her hand toward Fr. Paul (as we in the congregation did) and blessed him. Many people laid on hands in this blessing. We, non-priests, are as capable of giving a blessing as ordained priests. This was a wonderful final touch.
• I think the true church can be found everywhere (and, it often seems, nowhere). It is not just inside the walls of a Catholic church. It is often in the least expected places. And I found it in a church with very modest resources, with a small congregation, in the Mt. Auburn neighborhood of Cincinnati. Thank You!!

[Monday night, April 7th]

I just talked to my daughter Carolan (who lives in Whitefish, Montana, and works in Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness). She had been at Emily's wedding last summer when Fr. Paul Desch had the mass and officiated at the wedding. At that time Carolan remarked, "I feel as if that's the first time I've ever been to mass." Fr. Paul's mass celebrations can feel that different and that special.

Fr. Paul Desch, OFM--a Wonderful Priest

My daughter Emily was married earlier this month to Brian Homan of Lima, Ohio; the presider at the wedding was Fr. Paul Desch, a Cincinnati Franciscan. I love the Franciscans and thought if I ever were to pursue religious life it would be as a Franciscan (that train has left the station). I know quite a bit about the life of St. Francis and one of my close Cincinnati friends was Kenny Przybylski, who was a Franciscan brother for about 6 years (Little Brothers of the Poor of St. Francis). Another Cincinnati and Mansfield House Commune friend, Jack Shereda, was also part of that Franciscan order.

Fr. Paul's liturgy was beautiful and both traditional and non-traditional. His homily was especially beautiful. He knew that Brian and Emily met during a summer school semester in Salzburg, Austria, where they studied German. So during the homily Fr. Paul sang a sweet German folk song for them:

Du, du, liegst mir im Herzen.

Du, du, liegst mir im Sinn.

Du, du, machst mir viel Schmerzen--

Weiss nicht wie gut ich dir bin.

Ja, Ja, Ja, Ja,

Weiss nicht wie gut ich dir bin.

The words mean: You, you, are in my heart. You, you, are in my mind. You, you, cause me much pain--you don't know how good I am to you (or for you).

Fr. Paul especially commented on that last line and how good Emily and Brian are for each other. I think he was exactly right.

Since I was so much part of the ceremony and the reception, I wasn't able to take many pictures of Fr. Paul. But below is one from the brunch we had at our Chardon home the day after the wedding; the other from the rehearsal dinner. 

Thanks Fr.Paul!

July 6th brunch at our Chardon home. Fr. Paul is in a white shirt back
and a bit to the left of center. Members of the Homan family
sit with him (also, Bruce Sanders is there on the left).

Rehearsal Dinner, July 4th. Fr. Paul on left, Emily front center, Brian right.