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Monks mark milestones
Father Norbert Schappler, 80, who celebrated 60 years as a professed monk, comes from a long line of religious vocations. A sister and six cousins entered convents. Four other cousins were ordained to the priesthood, and his uncle Father Stephen Schappler was the third abbot of Conception.
Born July 23, 1926, in Atchison, Kan., young Maurice Schappler came to know the Benedictines of St. Benedict Abbey at an early age, but he chose to follow his uncle to Conception, where he graduated from high school in 1944. Two years later he made his profession, taking the name Norbert, and in the ensuing years earned his bachelor’s and theology degrees from Conception Seminary. On May 29, 1952, he was ordained to the priesthood.
After completing his theological studies, he was enrolled in the library school of Rosary College in River Forest, Ill. After earning his master’s degree in library studies, he was appointed head librarian of Conception’s abbey and seminary library.
Father Norbert immersed himself in Conception Seminary from 1954 through 1965, serving as college prefect and professor, head librarian and assistant spiritual director. He also was art editor for Altar and Home, a liturgical magazine, and spiritual director of the abbey’s Latin Summer School for several years.
From 1964 through 1967 he was spiritual director of the seminary. In 1964 he was also appointed manager of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, a post he would hold until 1980.
In 1982 Father Norbert, an amateur calligrapher, was appointed assistant director of the Printery House, followed in 1984 by appointment as manager of art and product development, a post he held until 1998.
Father Norbert is currently living at the abbey where is he a porter and archivist for the Printery House.
Father Edgar Probstfield, 79, celebrated the 60th anniversary of his profession to Conception Abbey earlier this year.
Born Jan. 9, 1927, in Verona, Mo., Victor Probstfield was the ninth of 11 children. He learned of the Benedictines through his pastor, who was a monk of Conception Abbey. Victor later attended Conception High School and Conception Seminary. He entered the novitiate in 1945 and was professed the following year, taking the religious name Edgar. He was later joined at Conception by his younger brother Vernon (Father Regis).
He was ordained May 29, 1952. Following a brief stint as a seminary professor, Father Edgar was assigned for six years to Conception Abbey’s foundation at Elkhorn, Neb. In 1959 he entered into pastoral ministry as assistant pastor of St. Joseph parish in Springfield, Mo. In 1962 he became pastor at St. Columba parish in Conception Junction, Mo., only to return to Springfield two years later. From 1966 to 1970 he was pastor of the Catholic Indian Mission in Fort Yates, N.D.
For the first six years of the 1970s he was back home at the abbey, serving as business manager. But in 1976, he returned to his old haunts at St. Joseph parish in Springfield, this time as pastor. Eight years later he moved closer to home, assigned as pastor of St. Paul the Apostle parish, in Tarkio, Mo., and St. Benedict parish in Burlington Junction, Mo.
In 1987 he returned to Fort Yates as assistant pastor, and a year later was named pastor. He served there until 1995 when Conception turned over ministry of the mission to the Diocese of Bismarck. In recent years he served as a pastor in Trenton, Mo., and Parnell, Mo. He is now retired and living at the abbey.
Father Denis Dougherty - pastor, counselor, teacher - celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood this year.
Born in Sioux City, Iowa, Feb. 27, 1929, Donald Dougherty graduated from Trinity High School and attended Creighton University before coming to Conception Abbey. He was professed Sept. 8, 1952, taking the name Denis, and ordained to the priesthood May 26, 1956.
Following ordination, Father Denis served for a year as assistant pastor at the Catholic Indian Mission in Fort Yates, N.D., before earning a master’s degree in Sociology from St. Louis University in 1959. He returned to Conception to teach sociology and psychology in the seminary and theology school. From 1960 to 1964 Father Denis earned another master’s degree and a doctorate in education psychology from the University of Missouri. He counseled students and taught psychology and sociology at Conception from 1963 to 1972. While there, he combined the two disciplines into a Department of Behavioral Sciences. In 1968, he founded the Apostolic Program, which he directed until 1972.
Following the closing of the theology school in 1972, Father Denis moved to Rockhurst College in Kansas City, where for six years he taught psychology and served, first as an assistant and then as director, in the college’s counseling center.
He returned to the Conception area in 1978 to accept his first pastorate, at St. Columba parish in Conception Junction. He remained there for eight years, during which the church was remodeled. In that time he also founded and directed the Benedictine Counseling and Consulting Institute, first in St. Joseph and later at St. Francis Hospital in Maryville.
Father Denis currently is pastor of St. Gabriel parish in Kansas City, Mo.
We welcome your comments:
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www.conceptionabbey.org
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