Call to diocesan, religious order priesthood

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
January 6, 2004

When young men opt to follow a call to become a priest, they must then decide whether to become a diocesan priest or religious order priest.

Two men associated with the Diocese of Sioux chose different paths. Father Denis Dougherty decided to become a religious order priest, and Father Brad Pelzel became a diocesan priest in the Diocese of Sioux City.

Father Dougherty, a native of Sioux City, grew up in Blessed Sacrament Parish and attended the parish grade school (K-8) and Trinity High School, graduating in 1947. He then went to Creighton University in Omaha for two years before attending Conception Seminary in Conception, Mo.

When he finished college there, he joined Conception Abbey. After a year of novitiate, he took four years of theology at Conception Seminary and was ordained on May 26, 1956, celebrating his first Mass at Blessed Sacrament that year. He has been a priest for 48 years and belongs to Conception Abbey which is part of the Order of St. Benedict.

"I decided to be an order priest because I liked what I saw when I attended the seminary at Conception. I had not been sponsored by the diocese. I went to the seminary on my own for two years and was free to join the Abbey," said Father Dougherty. "I think I made the right decision. I have been very happy in my religious and priestly life."

Conception Abbey has most men at home at the Abbey, but has always had priests like Father Dougherty stationed outside the Abbey. The parish where he currently serves has been staffed by his order since 1892.

"I like the community spirit and the appreciation of the liturgy, which is probably what initially attracted me to the Abbey," said Father Dougherty. "I had studied under the Jesuits, whom I admired, had looked into the Trappists rather carefully, but Conception seemed to have a good balance of scholarship, prayer and discipline as well as community life."

He has a masters degree in sociology from St. Louis University and a master's and doctorate in educational psychology from University of Missouri - Columbia. He taught at Conception Seminary and Rockhurst College, a Jesuit college in Kansas City, after Conception closed its theology school. After teaching he went into parish work, serving as pastor at Conception Junction, Mo., a parish in Kansas City. He is now in Springfield, Mo., where he is the current pastor at St. Joseph Parish.

Father Pelzel, a member of the Webster County Team Parishes ministry, was born in Milwaukee, Wis. in 1961 and is the oldest of nine children. He went to grade school at Sacred Heart Elementary in Maquoketa, Iowa, junior high at St. Mary's in Clinton, Iowa and attended high school in Britt, Iowa. He came to be associated with the Diocese of Sioux City when he lived in Jefferson after college and managed a hog farm there.

Father Pelzel was ordained on Aug. 10, 2002, the Feast of St. Lawrence the Deacon, so he has been a priest for about two and a half years.

"Things are going very well and working in Fort Dodge has been a real blessing," said Father Pelzel. "The people are wonderful, the office staff is great, the priests that I work with as well as the many retired priests that reside in Fort Dodge are all very good role models, and we are blessed to have an excellent Catholic school in town."

In addition, he is involved with the team ministry approach to covering the parishes of Webster County, the Generations of Faith religious education program and long-range planning.

"We are involved in a number of exciting ways of living out and experiencing our Catholic faith that I did not experience as I grew up, as well as actively planning how we are going to meet the needs of the church in the future. If nothing else, I am learning a lot," said Father Pelzel.

Father Pelzel added that the "best surprises are the unexpected people who step up and help in the many ministries, programs and other activities that we have going on - dealing with people in such circumstances is such a blessing."

"The idea of the possibility of a priestly vocation was something that kind of tugged at me for quite awhile," said Father Pelzel. "I had other ideas for a career and so I was pretty slow to respond, but God obviously was more persistent. I had found a good amount of success in the fast-food business, but I wasn't satisfied. I had been teaching high school religious education for a number of years in the parish that I belonged to and I found that much more rewarding than teaching people how to cook french fries."

He commented that he was drawn to this diocese because of the priests that he knew and was impressed that they all seemed to like each other and would gather regularly for prayer. Father Pelzel feels he made the right decision in becoming a diocesan priest.

"To get to say Mass every morning and bring Jesus in the sacraments to the people - I can't think of anything I'd rather do," said Father Pelzel. "In that process I get to meet Jesus in the people and in so many wonderful and unexpected ways - to be a priest is a great blessing."