Karin Burke started her senior year at St. Joseph High School in Toms River when Father John Wessel became the new chaplain in September, 1971. Her own memories were sketchy; all she remembered was the laughter and charisma of the young priest. She never had the chance to become better acquainted with him because after a scant three months, Father Wessel was shot in Toms River by a mentally ill Vietnam veteran whom he was called to counsel on Dec. 17. Father died on Dec. 26, leaving his family and the communities of St. Joseph and Toms River grieving profoundly.

In 2007, Burke’s book, “No Greater Love: The True Story of Father John P.Wessel,” was published, a biography 15 years in the making. On Dec. 15, Burke returned to her high school — long since renamed Monsignor Donovan — to introduce a new generation of students to the priest who longed to bring young people together in Christ.

One religion class gathered for a Mass in memory of Father Wessel, which was also attended by Father Wessel’s sister and brother-in-law, Maryann and William Beitel. In his homily, Father John Bambrick, current pastor of St. Joseph Parish and celebrant of the Mass, said Father Wessel died as a martyr for his people. In the words of the readings, Father Wessel’s “good works went with him, as a witness of faith.”

His sister, Maryanne, told the group of 27 students about her brother, who had a mission to young people during his six-year career as a priest.

“He said Mass at a home for troubled girls and ran the CYO,” recalled Beitel. “He encouraged his students to reach out and be kind and Christ-like to each other.”

Father Wessel loved the outdoors, especially boating, which was a passion he shared with the members of the CYO. In the basement of Blessed Sacrament Church, his first parish assignment, he built a catamaran with the help of the CYO. His young followers christened the craft “Eucharist” just before her maiden voyage on Barnegat Bay where the Wessel family had a summer home.

His love of boating and the Mass inspired him to build a table out of an old wooden boat hatch cover, which still serves as an altar in the high school chapel.

In preparing her book, Burke interviewed students and associates of Father Wessel who remembered that he carried that boat hatch cover from one religion class to another whenever he was to celebrate Eucharist in the classrooms.

At a second assembly, Burke, who is an attorney, revealed that she wrote he book because she had a clear memory of Father Wessel’s sacrifice and wished to spread the word that this good and holy priest made a difference in the lives of many even though his own was cut short.

“I want you to know that Father Wessel still cares for youth,” Burke told her audience, “Pray to him. He is a saint looking out for you, pulling for you in heaven. He knows what it is like to be a young person.” Burke hopes that the prayers of young people will result in the miracles needed for the cause for canonization undertaken by Father Wessel’s friends and supporters.

Beitel recounted her brother’s acts of selflessness, fostered by her parents’ strong Catholic faith. “Even as a child, he went out of his way to show compassion to the unpopular and the disliked.”

Father Wessel’s assailant was acquitted by reason of insanity and is incarcerated at the Vroom Building, the facility for the criminally insane at Trenton State Prison, where Father Wessel frequently celebrated Eucharist with the inmates.

Dorothy LaMantia is a freelance writer in Waretown.