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Green Bay native marks jubilee

Fr. Joseph Geniesse, C.S.C., a native of Green Bay, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in ceremonies at the University of Notre Dame on Friday, May 25.

He is one of 15 members of the Congregation of Holy Cross to observe golden jubilees. Four others will be honored for 60 years and four for their 25th anniversaries at a Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on campus.

Fr. Geniesse was born in Green Bay in 1930, the second oldest in a family of five. A younger sister, Sr. Virginia Geniesse, O.P., celebrated her 50th anniversary as a Dominican last year.

A 1948 graduate of Central Catholic High School, he entered the novitiate in 1951 and graduated from the University of Notre Dame.

He continued studies at the Gregorian University in Rome, and was ordained on Oct. 27, 1957, at the Collegio di Santa Croce, the seminary for Holy Cross students, in Rome. Fr. Geniesse later earned a master's degree in education from Marquette University, taught in high schools and universities, and served as a chaplain at universities in Louisiana, Texas and Georgia.

He was a hospital chaplain as well as an associate pastor at a parish in Austin, Texas, prior to his retirement in 2006.