In the name of Fr. Bill’s diocesan family, including his brother priests, deacons, and other friends and colleagues, I would like to extend our most sincere sympathy to Fr. Bill’s family, especially his siblings John and Ann. We want to assure you our prayerful support of you during this time of loss.

I have enjoyed hearing a bit about the various ways that Fr. Bill served across his years, including his 43 years as a priest in our diocese — his work as a medic in the Army, his time teaching in Catholic Schools, his service in multiple assignments as a parish priest, and his work in ministering to his sick sisters and brothers as a chaplain in the Fort Meade Veteran’s Affairs Black Hills Healthcare System. It seems fitting, on the occasion of his funeral, to ponder what motivated this life of service?

Just last evening, some folks gathered in St. Joseph Hall here at the cathedral, to watch the latest of our film series for this Jubilee Year of Hope. The film was “A Hidden Life” — a beautiful yet harrowing biography film of Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian conscientious objector who was ultimately executed in Berlin in 1943 for his unwillingness to swear loyalty to Adolph Hitler. In the course of his imprisonment, this man of faith challenged, by his example, other inmates to question the mercy of the God whom he was trying to serve by his stand against German Nationalism. One prisoner, looking around the Brandenburg-Görden prison in Berlin where they were incarcerated, and seeing the harsh treatment being doled out by the vindictive Nazi guards, confronts the believer Franz with his Lord’s teaching, the beatitudes — which we just heard proclaimed which Fr. Bill chose for his funeral — saying, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit? Where is the blessedness here?” 

The biblical word for “blessedness,” Makarios, suggests an act that enlarges and enhances life. When God blesses us, he expands and enlarges our lives, towards that life in abundance that Jesus promised he would give us. So, in that prison camp, where the blessedness offered to the prisoners was found was in the compassion and kindness of Franz which he offered by speaking by his words and actions to the dignity of the prisoners that the Nazi guards had so systematically sought to eradicate.

So however imperfectly, Fr. Bill sought to bless the poor in spirit in his various ministries through his service to members of his parishes and hospitals where he served. Though different from Brandenburg-Görden prison, I can’t help but think that motives between Bl. Franz Jägerstätter and Fr. Bill had common ground. Each of them sought to confirm the blessedness of those imprisoned. In Fr. Bill’s case, maybe those imprisoned by sickness or other pastoral needs, to bring the mercy of Jesus and expand and extend the lives of the sick and all others he sought to serve in which by his actions he confirmed the promise of Jesus — “blessed are the poor in spirit.” His actions brought that blessedness. For this is what our priests do, day in and day out. We minister the love of Christ to the poor in spirit and bring blessedness an expanded, fullness of life that only Jesus can bring.

However, today, on this funeral day of Fr. Bill, more urgent is the truth we claim, rooted in the sure and certain promises of Jesus, that when death comes to take us, rendering us supremely poor in spirit, Jesus, the resurrection and the life, is ready to bless us. That is to expand our lives into eternity through our sharing in his resurrection! Because Jesus’ promises are good, we call upon, now, the Lord’s mercy, and commend our brother priest and friend, Fr. Bill, to the certain mercies of our Lord.  

Lord Jesus, while we can look back with gratitude for the ways that your priest, Fr. Bill, sought to bear blessedness to the poor in spirit, today we look forward, more so, with hope to your promises and call out in faith: Bless Fr. Bill with the fullness of eternal life that will confirm your promise that “blessed are the poor in spirit.” May he dwell, we pray, in the fullness of eternal life promised by the savior whom he sought to serve across his life.  

As Fr. Bill’s death approached, the Church had gathered to celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and now, today, we celebrate his funeral on the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. With confidence, we pray, “Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for your priest, now at the hour of his death” and gather him to the eternal mercies of your Son and our Savior Jesus.