"Having Total Trust'
Father Schuler ‘can’t say enough about the people of God’
August 4, 2024 at 12:30 a.m.
As Divine Word Father Stephen Schuler prepares for his mid-July move from Hamilton to Techny, Ill., where he will live in retirement, he takes with him a treasure trove of happy memories of his 45 years of priesthood.
Most especially he treasures celebrating the Sacraments and being among the people he has served as an associate pastor, school chaplain and pastor in Louisiana as well as the years he spent assisting in parishes in the Trenton Diocese.
PHOTO GALLERY: Father Schuler retires
“If there’s anything that I have learned it is to trust in the people you serve,” said the 72-year-old Father Schuler, who was born in 1952 in Ness City, Kansas. “The people do want to take ownership of their parish, and they will. Just give them a chance. And the people respond generously.”
INSPIRED BY EXAMPLE
Divine Word Father Stephen Schuler celebrates Mass in St. Mary Church, Bordentown, one of two parishes where he served as a weekend assistant prior to his retirement. Joe Moore photoFather Schuler recalled being very young – second grade – when the seed for a priestly vocation was planted. Along with attending a Catholic grammar school, he was largely influenced by his uncle, who was a priest and someone he greatly admired.
He also had an aunt who was a Sister of St. Joseph and a grandmother who constantly prayed her grandson would be a priest.
“The seed continued to grow,” he said. “I couldn’t get the idea out of my head.”
He was in sixth grade when he first learned about the Society of the Divine Word community through a class assignment in which the students had to research a religious community.
Stephen’s initial resource was his grandparents’ subscription to a magazine on the Capuchin Franciscans. While reading it, he was intrigued by a small ad on the Divine Word community and their work as missionaries throughout the world. He considered entering a high school seminary, but instead he attended his local city high school.
After graduation, he worked as a cook in a restaurant, but thoughts of being a priest persisted to the point he was losing sleep. He prayed and decided the only way he would know if he had a vocation was to visit Divine World College in Epworth, Iowa.
“I went and I stayed,” said Father Schuler. That was 48 years ago, and on Dec. 15 he will celebrate his 45th anniversary as a priest. In addition to attending Divine Word College, he studied at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
VARIED WORK
Father Schuler smiled when he said how pleased he was for the opportunity to serve as a missionary in the United States.
During his early years, he was part of the community’s Southern Province based in Bay St. Louis, Missouri, and had assignments in Louisiana. He was associate pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Lafayette; chaplain and religion teacher at Holy Rosary Institute in Lafayette; pastor of St. Benedict the Moor Parish in Duson, and pastor of Our Lady of the Lake and St.
Martin de Porres parishes, Delcambre. While at St. Benedict the Moor, he oversaw a capital campaign and the building of a new parish center, an endeavor he found to be both a blessing and a challenge.
An opportunity for Father Schuler to transfer to Divine Word’s Chicago province led to his arrival in the Diocese of Trenton, where he lived in the Divine Word Missionaries residence in Bordentown and was a weekend assistant in numerous parishes, including St. George, Titusville, and Corpus Christi, Willingboro. When the residence closed in 2021, he went to live at St. Raphael-Holy Angels Parish, Hamilton, where he has assisted with Masses. He also has helped at Mary, Mother of the Church Parish, Bordentown.
SERVING WITH HUMILITY
Father Schuler has celebrated Mass for the Poor Clare Sisters in Chesterfield; provided pastoral care to the Catholic patients in Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton; offered pastoral care for Catholic residents in two nursing homes; and regularly visited about 40 homebound parishioners.
The home visits, he said, are humbling: “[I] have people sharing their lives with me.” He also enjoys the school year, and from his office window watching and hearing the energetic students of St. Raphael School at play during their recess.
“It’s the people who keep me going,” Father Schuler said. “I can’t say enough about the people of God.”
Father Schuler has a list of favorite hobbies he looks forward to pursuing in retirement: gardening, cooking, playing computer games, and doing word
searches. He also plans to spend more time with his three brothers, two of whom live in Kansas and one in Florida, and, if his schedule permits, he’ll return to the Trenton Diocese to visit.
“I never say ‘Goodbye,’” Father Schuler said. “I’d much rather say ‘Farewell.’”
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As Divine Word Father Stephen Schuler prepares for his mid-July move from Hamilton to Techny, Ill., where he will live in retirement, he takes with him a treasure trove of happy memories of his 45 years of priesthood.
Most especially he treasures celebrating the Sacraments and being among the people he has served as an associate pastor, school chaplain and pastor in Louisiana as well as the years he spent assisting in parishes in the Trenton Diocese.
PHOTO GALLERY: Father Schuler retires
“If there’s anything that I have learned it is to trust in the people you serve,” said the 72-year-old Father Schuler, who was born in 1952 in Ness City, Kansas. “The people do want to take ownership of their parish, and they will. Just give them a chance. And the people respond generously.”
INSPIRED BY EXAMPLE
Divine Word Father Stephen Schuler celebrates Mass in St. Mary Church, Bordentown, one of two parishes where he served as a weekend assistant prior to his retirement. Joe Moore photoFather Schuler recalled being very young – second grade – when the seed for a priestly vocation was planted. Along with attending a Catholic grammar school, he was largely influenced by his uncle, who was a priest and someone he greatly admired.
He also had an aunt who was a Sister of St. Joseph and a grandmother who constantly prayed her grandson would be a priest.
“The seed continued to grow,” he said. “I couldn’t get the idea out of my head.”
He was in sixth grade when he first learned about the Society of the Divine Word community through a class assignment in which the students had to research a religious community.
Stephen’s initial resource was his grandparents’ subscription to a magazine on the Capuchin Franciscans. While reading it, he was intrigued by a small ad on the Divine Word community and their work as missionaries throughout the world. He considered entering a high school seminary, but instead he attended his local city high school.
After graduation, he worked as a cook in a restaurant, but thoughts of being a priest persisted to the point he was losing sleep. He prayed and decided the only way he would know if he had a vocation was to visit Divine World College in Epworth, Iowa.
“I went and I stayed,” said Father Schuler. That was 48 years ago, and on Dec. 15 he will celebrate his 45th anniversary as a priest. In addition to attending Divine Word College, he studied at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
VARIED WORK
Father Schuler smiled when he said how pleased he was for the opportunity to serve as a missionary in the United States.
During his early years, he was part of the community’s Southern Province based in Bay St. Louis, Missouri, and had assignments in Louisiana. He was associate pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Lafayette; chaplain and religion teacher at Holy Rosary Institute in Lafayette; pastor of St. Benedict the Moor Parish in Duson, and pastor of Our Lady of the Lake and St.
Martin de Porres parishes, Delcambre. While at St. Benedict the Moor, he oversaw a capital campaign and the building of a new parish center, an endeavor he found to be both a blessing and a challenge.
An opportunity for Father Schuler to transfer to Divine Word’s Chicago province led to his arrival in the Diocese of Trenton, where he lived in the Divine Word Missionaries residence in Bordentown and was a weekend assistant in numerous parishes, including St. George, Titusville, and Corpus Christi, Willingboro. When the residence closed in 2021, he went to live at St. Raphael-Holy Angels Parish, Hamilton, where he has assisted with Masses. He also has helped at Mary, Mother of the Church Parish, Bordentown.
SERVING WITH HUMILITY
Father Schuler has celebrated Mass for the Poor Clare Sisters in Chesterfield; provided pastoral care to the Catholic patients in Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton; offered pastoral care for Catholic residents in two nursing homes; and regularly visited about 40 homebound parishioners.
The home visits, he said, are humbling: “[I] have people sharing their lives with me.” He also enjoys the school year, and from his office window watching and hearing the energetic students of St. Raphael School at play during their recess.
“It’s the people who keep me going,” Father Schuler said. “I can’t say enough about the people of God.”
Father Schuler has a list of favorite hobbies he looks forward to pursuing in retirement: gardening, cooking, playing computer games, and doing word
searches. He also plans to spend more time with his three brothers, two of whom live in Kansas and one in Florida, and, if his schedule permits, he’ll return to the Trenton Diocese to visit.
“I never say ‘Goodbye,’” Father Schuler said. “I’d much rather say ‘Farewell.’”
The Church needs quality Catholic journalism now more than ever. Please consider supporting this work by signing up for a SUBSCRIPTION (click HERE) or making a DONATION to The Monitor (click HERE). Thank you for your support.