By Dan Sullivan
Catholic Herald

Ordination of 72-year-old brings new job title

CUMBERLAND -- At a time when most people would be content to spend their retirement days relaxing in a warm climate or participating in a favorite hobby, Fr. Eugene Hornung, 72, is in the midst a new career as a priest.

"What was I going to do, sit with my feet up and be a couch potato?" he asked. "I have a drive to do things and to help people."

Hornung said becoming a priest wasn't something he set out to do when his wife, Dolores, died in 2000. The couple had been married for 41-years.

"It wasn't my idea," he said. "Other people told me I should become a priest."

Hornung admitted bucking initial thoughts of becoming a priest, but more and more people encouraged him to pursue the vocation. After much prayer and reflection, and after talking to Bishop Raphael Fliss, a number of priests and his two sons (Mark and Greg), Hornung began studies for the priesthood. He enrolled at Sacred Heart Seminary in Hales Corner, Wis., which specializes in second career vocations.

"I was worried at first because it wasn't easy for an old coot," Hornung said, but "I survived that." The thought, he said, of becoming a deacon or studying for lay ministry never entered his mind.

After completing an accelerated seminary program, Hornung, who is a great-grandfather, was ordained at his home parish of St. Anthony Abbot in Cumberland last July. A question that was often asked during his seminary studies was how being a family man would help his vocation as a priest.

"The instructors would often ask because it had a relationship to marriage and to family life," he said.

This was not Hornung's first time looking to become a priest. Hornung graduated from Salvatorian Seminary, a college preparatory seminary in St. Nazianz, Wis., in 1949. He then spent a year at the Capuchin novitiate in Huntington, Ind., but did not return. Following this period of discernment, he joined the military.

"I had grown up on a farm and shoveled a lot of (manure) and had enough of it," Hornung said. "I then went to see the Navy recruiter. They promised me three square meals a day and a warm bed."

Following retirement from the Navy in 1979, the Hornung family settled in Cumberland and became active in the St. Anthony Abbot Parish.

Now that he has been ordained, Hornung returned to minister in his home parish. Because of his age, the diocese gave him a new title of senior priest.

"It is a different position than being an associate or assistant pastor," said Fr. Dennis Mullen, pastor of St. Anthony Abbot, and also Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, Almena, and St. Ann Parish, Turtle Lake.

"It is still being defined, but we have a basic definition. Fr. Gene and I have to work it out on a day-to-day basis and see how it develops," Mullen said.

Being responsible for three parishes in this cluster, Mullen welcomes the assistance. "Besides the Sunday Mass schedule, most of his work has been with the the homebound and hospital ministry," Mullen said.

"I think our parishes are blessed because we have the presence of a second priest with a great deal of flexibility in terms of meeting daily and ongoing needs of our parishioners. We have a definition of responsibilities that both protects Fr. Hornung from getting involved in stuff that he has not had the formal training (for) and also makes full use of his talents."

Mullen said if another priest came to the parish as a senior priest, the job description would differ. "We tried to make the description individualized and we tried to respect his age and availability," he said.

Hornung admitted to being an experiment for the diocese with the senior priest status. "I'm the guinea pig," he said. "How I work out within the diocesan definition will influence what will happen in the future."

Fr. Kevin Gordon, diocesan vicar for priests, said the idea of senior priests is a new one for diocesan officials and the definition of the position is still being worked out. "It's not set in stone yet," Gordon said. "The position and concept is still evolving."

The position description, recently drafted by the diocese, calls for the senior priest to be appointed by the bishop primarily to provide sacramental ministry to a parish or cluster at the request of the pastor. He would normally not become involved in parish administration and education programs. The senior priest is also expected to be available to provide sacramental ministry to other parishes and clusters in emergency situations.

Unlike a priest who retires from active ministry, Hornung was assigned to a parish by the bishop. A retired priest normally seeks his own help-out assignments.

According to diocesan policy, a priest in the diocese can retire at the age of 65. "As long as their health stays good, they can stay on," Gordon said

Hornung has age on his side. His mother lived to be 96 and his father 89. He hopes to serve the diocese for years to come.

"At my ordination, the bishop said to God and the whole world that was present, 'We expect 20-years of priestly service from Fr. Gene,'" Hornung said. "I've got 19 and a half years to go. I did promise the bishop that I would not retire unless I was told to do so."

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2003