St. Wendelin, Fostoria

Very interesting article from the July 8, 2007 edition of the Fostoria Focus: By JOHN MONTGOMERYFocus Reporter When Father Nicholas Weibl wanted a change in duties, he could have looked at the openings in the Toledo Diocese and put in a specific request.Instead, he left the entire decision up to a higher power, and wound up revisiting a familiar place — St. Wendelin Parish.“My process was a little bit different because I believe that the Holy Spirit does guide the church, and because of that I left it up to them to find a place where they felt that I could do the most good,” Weibl said.“When they called me, I was a little bit surprised, but happily so, when they mentioned that they wanted me to come here because I didn’t think there would be a chance I’d be coming here since I was here one time already,” he said.Weibl served as principal at St. Wendelin High from 1967-72 and returned to duties in Fostoria this past Monday, this time as parish pastor.“When it was announced that I was coming here at the masses of the parish, they said three out of the four applauded. So that’s not all bad,” he laughed. “I don’t know what happened on the fourth one, but I had a good report on three.”Weibl said he has a lot of catching up to do. When he last served Fostoria, the church stood at the corner of North and Wood Streets and the high school students were in the early years of the 1970s.Today, St. Wendelin Catholic Church sets a block north of its former site and those high school students he used to know have experienced life.“The young people I had in high school are grandparents now, so there are a lot of things that’ve happened between those two times,” Weibl said.And that goes for him, as well.Weibl was born Oct. 12, 1939, in Tovarishevo, Yugoslavia. His family fled that country for Germany one day before his fifth birthday before arriving in America Dec. 23, 1951, and settling in Mansfield.He attended Mansfield St. Peter’s for three years before going to Our Lady of the Lake Seminary in Syracuse, Ind., for five years and Athenaeum of Ohio-Mount St. Mary’s of the West for six years.Weibl was ordained a priest Aug. 15, 1964, and finished up his theology studies at Athenaeum of Ohio-Mount St. Mary’s of the West before serving as the assistant pastor at St. Patrick of Heatherdowns from 1965-67.He next served as St. Wendelin’s principal from 1967-72.“The way the bishop put it in those days, he said, ‘You’re assigned as an assistant to the parish. And by the way, on the side, take care of the high school.’ It was a little different in those days,” he laughed.“It was quite a learning experience,” Weibl said.He went on to serve as rector and pastor at Holy Spirit Seminary High (1972-83), pastor at Fremont St. Joseph (1983-95) and administrator and pastor at Holy Angels in Sandusky (1995-2001) before becoming the vicar for priests for the Diocese of Toledo (2001-07).After six years of being the vicar for priests, Weibl said he wanted a change. He said serving as the vicar of priests was more of a personnel position and he wanted to get back to parish life.“I always loved parish life. I’m very glad to get back to the parish life, because I think that’s where the real work of the priest is,” Weibl said.And past experiences have shown him some work he’d like to share with St. Wendelin, he added.Weibl said he wants to:• Reemphasize the Catholic nature of the schools and the ideals, morality and service to others that brings, such as helping out at the Sharing Kitchen.• Help parishioners be identified as Jesus’ followers.• Would like to help form a program to aid people in learning skills to become independent.• Help increase school enrollment.• Emphasize family life.“I always say that children make parents saints — not by choice,” Weibl said. “You don’t have a choice, you have to think of somebody else and not yourself.”He said he would also like to continue his work with a couple of groups.One is called JOY People and focuses on handicapped awareness issues and treating the handicapped as equals.Another is called Retrouvaille. The group is for couples facing difficulties in marriages and offers a retreat and follow-up meetings. Weibl said Retrouvaille has a 70 percent success rate for couples who follow through with the program.But before all that happens, Weibl said he wants to get reacquainted with the parish, the town and the people, something he said he’s already started on.“It’s nice to come back,” he said. “I have some really fond memories and hopes.“I just missed families and I missed kids,” he said. “That’s why I was glad to get back to a parish.” Fr. Nicholas Weibl, as the article said, is the Pastor of St. Wendelin in Fostoria. Some of you guys from the Norwalk area might know his Associate Pastor- Fr. Eric Schild.