News

In shape: spiritually, physically, musically

Sixth in a series

By Joanne Flemming
Compass Correspondent

	Interested? For more information on diocesan priesthood, contact Fr. Doug LeCaptain at (920)437-7531 or 1-877-500-3580 (toll-free), ext. 8293 or e-mail vocations@gbdioc.org or contact your parish priest.

Fr. Joseph Mattern, pastor of St. Mary Parish, Omro, likes to describe himself as a "musician/athlete who became a priest."

Adept at several musical instruments, especially horn, he grew up in Menasha as the eighth of 13 children. The family owned a grocery store across the street from St. John the Baptist School. After graduating from St. John in 1947, he attended Menasha High School where he played football, baseball and other sports, he said.

After high school, he worked a year. The idea of becoming a priest and going off to the missions had "captured my imagination" after reading the Maryknoll Magazine his mother subscribed to.

"It was in the back of my mind, just hanging around there," he said. Fr. John Pawelski, then serving at St. John in Menasha, "almost made the decision for me."

Fr. Mattern recalled talking to Fr. Pawelski about doing something with his life. Fr. Pawelski told him, "Hey, Joe, you're going to the seminary."

He did. He attended a seminary in Pontiac, Mich., dedicated to preserving Polish culture for college and philosophy. Then he spent four years in Rome at the Gregorian University. He lived at the North American College in the Vatican and was ordained in late 1959.

Fr. Mattern taught himself to play the flute while in seminary. In Rome, he joined the newly organized band at Gregorian University. The group played for other seminaries. For a while, he was director. The directors who preceded and succeeded him are both now bishops.

After ordination, Fr. Mattern served at St. Mary Parish in Kaukauna, Marinette Catholic Central High School and St. Mary Parish in Manitowoc. He became Omro's pastor in 1979. While teaching music 12 years in Marinette, he also played with the Green Bay Symphony.

When asked what special gifts, besides his music, he has brought to his priesthood, Fr. Mattern said, "my passion for social justice."

His parish is one of the Green Bay Diocese's centers for Hispanic ministry. He said that began slowly when he became pastor 25 years ago. He recalled saying Mass in a field for migrant families.

The ministry really began to grow, he added, when large dairy farms opened around Omro and began employing Hispanic workers. He said the parish now serves 150-plus Spanish-speaking families.

Fr. Mattern speaks Italian, Polish and Spanish, which he taught himself and which he now uses daily.

Suggestions How has a priest helped you? The Compass is accepting nominations from readers for priests to include in this series. Send your ideas, including reasons why the priest should be featured, along with your name, address and phone number to Priest Series, The Compass, P.O. Box 23825, Green Bay WI  54305; or by e-mail to compassnews@gbdioc.org.

He served as a community representative on a policy committee for the UMOS office in Oshkosh. UMOS is the federal agency serving migrant families. Earlier this year, UMOS nominated him and Sr. Patrick Flanigan, who directs Hispanic ministries at St. Joseph Parish in Wautoma, for a national award.

"He is a great advocate for Hispanic ministry," said Rudy Pineda, diocesan consultant for Hispanic ministry. "He is a tremendous person."

Fr. Mattern describes himself as a "peace activist" and he is a member of Pax Christi, an international peace activist organization. St. Mary's is "the only parish in the diocese with an active Pax Christi group," he added.

It meets monthly and he joined the group in demonstrating last year in Oshkosh against the war in Iraq before fighting began. He questioned whether capturing Saddam Hussein was worth the billions of dollars spent and the lives lost in that conflict.

Among his more memorable moments as a priest, Fr. Mattern said, are meeting his three heroes: John XXIII, Mother Teresa and jazz musician John Coltrane. He met John XXIII when he accompanied the late Bp. Stanislaus Bona on a visit to the Vatican. He met Mother Teresa at a gathering in Chicago.

Now a senior priest, he said that he tries to keep in shape physically, spiritually, intellectually and socially so he can continue to serve as a priest.

He said he took up tennis in seminary and played for 18 years. Among his opponents was baseball great Roger Maris. Now he plays golf and works out regularly at a gym. His sister pays for his personal trainer, he added.

To maintain himself intellectually, Fr. Mattern studies Scripture and he has "a passion for" reading about early Christianity.

He remains passionate about his music. He still teaches. One of his Hispanic students recently won top honors for flute at a state music competition. On Tuesday evenings, he plays jazz with the Big Band Reunion at the Pizza Palace in Appleton.