News

Late priest's writings published

By Tony Staley
Compass Correspondent

GREEN BAY -- Fr. Richard Gilsdorf held strong beliefs about the church, which he expressed in writings and speeches during the nearly 50 years he was a priest of the Green Bay Diocese.

A collection of his work has been published in "The Signs of the Times," subtitled, "Understanding the Church Since Vatican II" (Star of the Bay Press, Green Bay, 542 pages, $19.95).

Fr. Gilsdorf, a teacher, pastor, writer and speaker, was pastor of Holy Trinity Parish, Casco, for more than 20 years.

The book, which took nearly three years for Pat Beno, Sr., to compile and edit, along with Brian O'Neel, contains articles and speeches Fr. Gilsdorf wrote from 1959 through 1992.

About six months before Fr. Gilsdorf died on May 4, 2005, he asked Beno to tackle the project. That meant going through more than 20 file cabinets jammed with personal correspondence, writings, speeches, book reviews and unpublished articles.

The result is a 51-chapter book drawn from articles originally published in Emmanuel magazine, The Spirit (now The Compass), The Wanderer (a national Catholic newspaper), The Homiletic and Pastoral Review (a Catholic magazine) and Lay Witness (magazine published by Catholics United for the Faith), among others.

There also are speeches to the Institute on Religious Life, the Wanderer Forum and the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, which Fr. Gilsdorf, a past president (1994-99), helped found.

The book has both a nihil obstat (Norbertine Fr. Al McBride) and an imprimatur (Fr. John Doerfler), which are official church declarations that it is free of doctrinal or moral error.

"The Signs of the Times" covers numerous topics, starting with an article on ecumenism Fr. Gilsdorf wrote in 1959 in anticipation of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

"When he was a young priest back in the early and middle '60s, when the Second Vatican Council was under way, he was considered a rather progressive priest because he was so excited about the ecumenical aspect of the council. He wrote extensively on how we could all become one again," Beno said.

These included several articles on ecumenism published in the Jesuits' America magazine, Beno said, who decided instead to use a single article to summarize Fr. Gilsdorf's thinking.

The articles from The Spirit show a shift in Fr. Gilsdorf's approach, Beno said. "He was starting to discover that there was a lot of misinterpretation going on and misapplication of the council. He became aware of that little by little and his writings started to reflect that. You can sense that as you go chapter by chapter that he started being very, very concerned about what was happening."

Those concerns pushed him to write more, said Beno, who called the book "a history of one priest's love for the church to such a degree that he felt he had to put so much time into preparing his application of what was going wrong over those years. The book isn't for anyone who is light-hearted. It's going to touch on issues that have been controversial through the last 30-40 years."

These concerns relate to the Eucharist, confession, catechetical instruction, the role of the papacy and authority in the church; and the work of theologians, such as Fr. Karl Rahner; the Scripture scholar, Fr. Raymond Brown; and the sociologist/author, Fr. Andrew Greeley.

Another change became apparent in about 1980 as the catechetical approach of Pope John Paul II unfolded, leading to publication of the new catechism, all of which Fr. Gilsdorf approved, Beno said.

Because the book is a compilation of Fr. Gilsdorf's writings, each chapter stands on its own and can be read in any order, Beno said. Parts may be hard to understand, Beno acknowledges, but he recommends persevering.

To help readers understand some of the issues and personalities Fr. Gilsdorf was writing about 15 to 50 years ago, Beno included extensive footnotes, a glossary, end notes and an index.

Beno said he worked three days a week for eight months sorting through Fr. Gilsdorf's files, throwing out personal correspondence and selecting the book's contents.

The project was "a labor of love for one of my closest friends," Beno said, "and the experience of a lifetime." Beno's daughter, Betsy, typed the manuscript on a computer.

The book has been recommended by Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit, formerly Bishop of Green Bay (1984-90); Jesuit Fr. Kenneth Baker, editor of Homiletic and Pastoral Review; James Likoudis, publisher emeritus of Lay Witness; and Charles Rice, Ph.D., professor emeritus of law at the University of Notre Dame Law School and visiting professor of law at Ave Maria School of Law, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Fr. Gilsdorf was born Jan. 24, 1930, in Green Bay to Wilbert and Gladys (Fonder) Gilsdorf. After graduating from St. Norbert College, De Pere, and St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Stanislaus Bona on May 26, 1956, in St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Green Bay.

"The Signs of the Times" is available at St. Catherine Book Shop, Green Bay; St. Patrick Book Store, Appleton; Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help gift shop, Robinsonville; and directly from Beno, 2345 Sunrise Court, Green Bay, WI 54302, phone (920)468-4927.