Msgr. Zenk celebrates 50th

December 2, 2004

Msgr. Richard E. Zenk, parish administrator of St. Patrick's Parish in Akron, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the holy priesthood with a 11 a.m. Mass on Dec. 12. His actual day of ordination was Dec. 8, 1954. After the Mass, a reception will follow in the parish hall from 2 to 4 p.m.

Msgr. Zenk will be the celebrant of the Mass. His classmates are invited to concelebrate. The Most Rev. Lawrence D. Soens, the retired bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City, will deliver his homily.

Msgr. Zenk was born in Alton on May 10, 1927, the fifth of eighth children of Mr. and Mrs. Zenk. He attended St. Mary's Academy at Alton for 12 year. In 1947 he enrolled at St. John's University in Collegeville, M.N. He graduated from St. John's with a Bachelors of Arts degree in 1951.

In the fall of 1951, Msgr. Zenk was sent to Rome where he lived at the North American College and studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. On Dec. 8, 1954, during his fourth year of theology, he was ordained a priest in Rome.

From 1955 to 1958, Msgr. Zenk studied Canon Law at the Gregorian University in Rome to obtain a doctorate in Canon Law. In 1958, he returned to the United States and began working in the Diocesan Tribunal and Chancery in Sioux City.

On Aug. 1, 1960, he was assigned to St. Vincent's Hospital in Sioux City as Hospital Chaplain, and he continued to assist at the Diocesan Tribunal.

On Feb. 26, 1968, he was appointed pastor of St. Mary's Parish in Rock Valley. While in Rock Valley, he continued as Diocesan Mission Director, Calvary Cemetery Executive Secretary and Defender of the Bond in he Diocesan Tribunal. In a document dated Feb. 15, 1972, he was given Papa Honors, with the title of monsignor.

On Feb. 29, 1972, he was appointed Hospital Chaplain of St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital in Sioux City and continued in the Diocesan Chancery and Tribunal on a part-time base.

In July of 1986, in addition to his duties in the Central Catholic Offices in Sioux City, he was assigned as pastor of St. John's Parish, Onawa, and St. Bernard's Parish, Blencoe.

On June 7, 1995, Msgr. Zenk was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's Parish in Akron. He presently continues as the parish administrator and also as the diocesan mission director, the executive secretary of Calvary Cemetery in Sioux City, and as one of the defenders of the marriage bond in the diocesan Tribunal.