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The Victoria GAZETTE |
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"I sure did enjoy Victoria," said Fr. B. "I remember when it came time to put up the cross above the new altar, I had my eye on one and I didn't know if I should buy it or not. I talked to Eugene Diethelm about it, for his opinion, and I hung it up and he said, 'You'll never find anything better.'" The cross is still there. "I used to consult Len Schneider if I had other questions," he added. "Len was the janitor at St. Victoria and he was the father of all those kids -- 13 of them, I believe -- including Father Conran and Father Fred." The Schneider brothers also became Franciscans. "I got in trouble one time at Victoria," said Fr. B. "They had a heater in that church that was really noisy so I had it taken out and I guess I shouldn't have done that. Tony Aretz and a committee came to see me and said they needed that heater in church for warmth. They claimed people got cold, but I had consulted Old Man Maurice Leuthner about it and he said it'd be no problem to get rid of it. You see, I couldn't speak over that noise. I couldn't out-talk that heater. When I left St. Victoria, they put the heater back in." Back in the 1950's, St. Victoria had heaters but not microphones. Over the years, many stories have surfaced about Father Bernardine's time in Victoria, some of them recorded in past issues of the Victoria Gazette, including the time he asked Ray Schmieg to build a large manger for the church at Christmas time. That manger is still set up as part of the decor every year in a corner of the old church at St. Victoria. "I remember one fall we really needed moisture for our farmers and our yards in Victoria," said Fr. B. "So we prayed and prayed for moisture. In a day or two we got almost four feet of snow and people were saying, 'Don't ask St. Victoria to pray for any more moisture!'" Said Fr. B., "Victoria used to be known as the Jewel of the Province."
In Chaska Then Fr. B. was assigned to Guardian Angels at Chaska for five years. "Father Elstan was there -- it was his first assignment -- and so I really enjoyed that place," said the elder pastor. "I had been eating my meals at the Friary in Chaska while I was at Victoria -- it's where all the Franciscans in the area came to eat -- and so I was already acquainted two years with Father Elstan when I was assigned to Chaska. In the evenings we'd have a glass of Miller High Life and listen to the ball games. We liked the Milwaukee Brewers." "I had to build that hall and gym there at Guardian Angels," said Fr. B. "We had a high school, and the educational hierarchy was threatening our accreditation, to take it away from us. They were going to take away our credentials and we wouldn't qualify as a high school unless we built a gym. We'd lose our standing as a high school, so we had a tough time through it all." It might have been during these years in the late '50's that Physcial Education courses became a requirement by the "educational hierarchy" of the State. "Anyway, I didn't feel capable of the fundraising that was required for the Hall so I called in a company to do it for us, and they were successful," said Fr. B. "There was a group of parishioners who didn't want outsiders to raise the money for us, but Catherine Diethelm was very helpful to me. She opened her mouth and spoke up for the gym and for the program I adopted. That's Art Diethelm's wife. She was living in the boundaries of Chaska at that time and was a member of Guardian Angels."
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Lake Auburn Moravian Church Victoria 952-443-2051 |
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Southwest Christian H.S. 952-556-0040 |
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CLICKSTART 952-902-2014 |
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March 2013 |
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Father B. and Editor Sue. |