A Wellspring of Vocations
Editor’s Note: The story of the number of vocations that come from the small towns of Rowena and Olfen, northeast of San Angelo, will be included in a commemorative book to be published to coincide with the the 50th jubilee of the Diocese of San Angelo in October 2011.
By Jimmy Patterson
Editor
RUNNELS COUNTY -- The most recent edition of the Texas Almanac lists cotton and cattle as two of the most important items produced in Runnels County, northeast of San Angelo. The mostly-rural agriculture county is known primarily for its farm and ranchland.
Were it to be a complete overview of the most fruitful byproducts of the county, however, editors of the Almanac would most certainly have had to include vocations.
Through the years, 29 priests and women religious have professed their holy vows from these two tiny farming communities. The numbers are staggering. With a total population in the two towns hovering around the 500 mark, the 10 priests and 19 sisters that grew up here represent 6 percent of all the towns’ people. And while those 29 are spread across different decades, if you applied that same six percent number to Ector County, the most populous county in the Diocese of San Angelo, the numbers would single-handedly go far in helping bring relief to the shortage of priests and women religious today’s U.S. church faces. If 6 percent of Ector County residents became priests or women religious, almost 7,700 vocations would be created.
The reasons for the high numbers of vocations here seem to focus on two commonalities: the strength of family and the emphasis placed on religious formation and loyalty to the Church.
“Strong family life is fostered and nurtured on ethnic folk islands of the German Catholic families in Olfen, and German and Czech Catholic families in Rowena,” said retired Bishop of Amarillo Leroy Matthiesen, himself an Olfenite. “Families tend to be interrelated, they bond with each other, and support each other. They celebrate festive occasions and grieve with each other over the death of loved ones. Those who marry an Olfenite or Rowenaite marry not only that person but a way of life and become part of it.”
The Matthiesen family produced not just one bishop, but Msgr. Monroe Matthiesen and sisters Rosaria and Rosanna, both of whom entered the Order of St. Benedict.
Olfen’s Halfmann and Block families and Rowena’s Droll, Rollwitz and Glass families all have multiple family members who became priests or nuns. In fact the Rollwitzes raised four girls -- Adeline, Eva, Eulalia and Ventura -- who would profess holy orders with the Sisters of Divine Providence (CDP).
“If we could put our finger on exactly why this has happened, we could replicate it elsewhere, I suppose,” said Msgr. Larry Droll, himself a Rowena native and currently pastor of St. Ann’s Church in Midland. “I think it has to do with strong Catholic families actively involved in the church.
“There is a strong family influence there. In my own family we had a number of first cousins of my mother and father who became priests, and a number of their aunts who became sisters. There certainly is a family connection there. The family itself is not only strongly connected to the church and actively participated, but taught an acceptance of the idea that someone could become a priest or a sister.”
San Angelo Bishop Michael Pfeifer gives all the credit for the vocations in the area to God.
“Thank God this call has been heard by many generous and loving hearts of both women and men who wanted to serve Christ and His Church in a more committed and full-time way,” Pfeifer said. “The large amount of vocations from these two communities is due, yes, to God’s grace, and to the great spirit of faith and love that is found in the parents and family members of the parishioners of St. Boniface in Olfen and St. Joseph in Rowena.”
Bishop Matthiesen noted, too, that families from these communities teach their children to love the land, respect their elders, cherish their history, honor their dead, and hold God and Church at the center of their lives.
“With them, it is God, family, land, and country. Prayer around the table and at bedside, church attendance, respect for priests, deacons, and Sisters, active participation in the liturgy, care of church property, including the cemetery, are expected,” Matthiesen said.
When parish life began in Olfen and Rowena, Matthiesen noted, priests and Sisters were the most educated persons in the community. They were respected and reverenced even when their human weaknesses became evident. That was not lost on young people.
The work ethic is strong here, too, and families with many children are considered a boon for families with farms. Children were expected to pitch in and do their part of the daily chores and because their presence on the farm was so needed and important, when a child expressed an interest in leaving to become a priest or nun, the parents never expressed encouragement or discouragement, Matthiesen said.
Finally, Matthiesen said a long-serving constancy from a parish priest also serves to heighten interest in serving the Church.
With the priest shortage the church is facing and with the international priest program, Rowena and Olfen are now often served by foreign-born priests. The people of these small communities, it has been
demonstrated recently with Fr. Bhaskar Morugudi and the recently departed Fr. Magnus that Olfenite and Rowenaites love their pastors just the same, it matters not where they are from or how thick their accent.
“I think the deep faith of the early parishioners and the knowledge that sacrifice and service were a deep part of that faith was passed on to their children,” said Fr. Bhaskar. “Family life has always been held in high regard. This seems to be an important factor in raising children with the attitude that sacrifice and service is something to strive for.
“I heard one former pastor state that the people of St. Joseph's always put their pastor on a pedestal and that this respect for those in religious life is also passed on to their children.”
Added Pfeifer: “There is a message for us today as regards promoting vocations — we need parents who encourage their children to think about priesthood and religious life. In these communities, there also have been many very dedicated priests and women religious who have served the Church in an extraordinary manner, and who have encouraged young people to think about these special vocations. The response to the vocation call proves once again what we hear over and over — that the ones who do the most to foster vocations for priesthood and religious life are good, dedicated priests and religious, and parents who encourage their children to think about these calls. I am deeply grateful for the many vocations that have come out of these two wonderful communities, and I ask God’s blessings upon all.”
Priests, sisters from Olfen, Rowena
OLFEN
Msgr. Monroe Matthiesen
Bishop Leroy Matthiesen
Father Hubert Halfmann
Msgr. Curtis Halfmann
Msgr. Louis B. Moeller (Rowena and Olfen both claim him)
Msgr. Roland Buxkemyer
Fr. Tim Schwertner
Sister Helen Lange, Order of St. Benedict
Sister Rosaria Matthiesen OSB
Sister Rosanna Matthiesen OSB
Sister Pauline Block OSB
Sister Irma Multer OSB
Sister Carolyn Pelzel, Sisters of Divine Providence
Sister Deborah Ann Fuchs CDP
Sister Lucy Block
ROWENA
Msgr. Bernard Gully
Rev. Louis Droll
Msgr. Larry Droll
Rev. Daniel Dierschke
Sister Adeline Rollwitz CDP
Sister Eva Rollwitz CDP
Sister Eulalia Rollwitz CDP
Sister Ventura Rollwitz CDP
Sister Lucy Glass CCVI
Sister James Glass CCVI
Sister Hilarian Malish CDP
Sister Marcia Havlak CDP
Sister Bernadette Hajovsky CDP
Sister Maria Theresa Mendez, OSF
