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father richard mohr retires as pastor

Story and photo by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

He has loved every parish he has served, and now Father Richard Mohr, pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Marion will bid parishioners good-bye as he retires from parish ministry.

Father Mohr, almost 68, will live in Marion and, he said, become more active in Catholic Social Services work in Carbondale.

Always concerned about his community, Father Mohr became active in the ministerial alliance in the Marion area when he became pastor at St. Joseph’s 19 years ago.

That concern also led him to the Rotary Club where he became a board member and club president. The Marion Chamber of Commerce recognized his community service in 2008 with a lifetime achievement award.

The award means a lot to him, he said, because it is the first time the community recognized a religious minister with that award.

Part of his community involvement has been with Hands of Hope, a free clinic for the working poor, he said.
“Our parish is significantly involved” in that ministry, he added, along with other churches in the area.

“For many people, it’s either pay for insurance or feed your family.” The parish supports the clinic through donations and fund raisers.

Father Mohr expects to continue active participation in the Marion community, but he will no longer be St. Joseph’s pastor.

When he was assigned as the pastor at St. Joseph’s he knew the Marion community would be different from the Breese community that he was leaving.

“I always liked Marion, and I knew it was a good parish,” he said.

He left St. Augustine’s in Breese, a predominantly Catholic community to move to Marion which is not predominantly Catholic.

“It was a completely new adventure going from an area that was 90 percent Catholic to one that is probably 10 percent Catholic.”

When he arrived in Marion, Sister Anastasia Wehner SSND, had been at the parish for a year. “We just clicked,” he said of his work with Sister Wehner. “We were a real team.”

Bill Harper, St. Joseph’s religious education director took over when Sister Wehner retired. Team building continued with Harper.

With more than 200 young people in kindergarten through sixth grade in the religious education program, Father Mohr has relied on a good team.

“The people take on so many roles, and we have a lot of energy and enthusiasm,” he said.
Father Mohr also spends time at the Veterans Hospital in Marion and the prison.

The hospital visits began when emergencies necessitated a priest. Later, the visits evolved into a regular pattern with Father Mohr making a visit once a week and bringing Communion to the veterans.

At the prison, a priest chaplain was on staff, but that has changed. He has now added visits to the prison and celebration of liturgies there.

Father Mohr began his life as a priest when Bishop Albert R. Zuroweste ordained him May 13, 1967 at St. Henry Church in Belleville because the cathedral was being renovated.

In June he was a temporary associate at Holy Angels Parish in East St. Louis and began teaching at Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville that August and was also an associate at St. Mary’s in Belleville.

Both assignments lasted until 1974 when he became a member of the diocesan Communications Commission and worked at the Chancery.

His first pastorate began in 1975 at St. Patrick’s in Ruma and St. Leo in Modoc. He was also chaplain at the Ruma motherhouse for the Adorers of the Blood of Christ.

In 1976 he was assigned to St. Anthony’s in Lively Grove and the now closed parish of St. Anthony’s in Coulterville.
From 1981-1990 he was assigned to St. Augustine in Breese and then to his present parish in Marion.

The hardest part of his priestly ministry, Father Mohr said, was “leaving” a parish or school to which he was assigned. “I have loved every parish.”

When he began his priesthood, Father Mohr said he thought about his father’s role as a doctor in Pinckneyville.
“If I can be as good a priest as he was a doctor helping people, I would be happy,” he said.

His priestly ministry has been rewarding. “I couldn’t have had a better adventure as a priest,” he said. “When I die, I will ask the Lord why he was so good to me.”