By John Rohlf, The Message assistant editor
On the 50th anniversary of his priesthood ordination, Father Tom Kessler celebrated a Jubilee Mass for his 50 years of service as a diocesan priest.
Father Kessler, a senior priest of the Diocese of Evansville, celebrated the Mass June 7 at Christ the King Church in Evansville, which is part of Annunciation Parish. Bishop Joseph M. Siegel attended the Mass. Six priests concelebrated the Mass, including diocesan priests Father Benny Chacko, pastor of Annunciation Parish in Evansville; Father John Pfister, parochial vicar of Annunciation Parish in Evansville; Father John Brosmer, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Jasper; Father John Boeglin, senior priest of the diocese; and Father Stephen Lintzenich, senior priest of the diocese.
Father Kessler was ordained to the priesthood on June 7, 1975, by Bishop Francis R. Shea, the third bishop of the Diocese of Evansville. Prior to retiring in 2020, Father Kessler served as pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Newburgh.
Father Kessler said the focus of the Jubilee Mass was on all the people he has walked with in his 50 years of priestly ministry for the diocese.
“I appreciate the Bishop (Siegel) being here and priests being with us,” Father Kessler said at the beginning of Mass. “And all of you to come here… This isn’t really about me. It’s about people who I walked with and who I’ve been with for the past 50 years. That’s what it’s all about.”
Father Kessler, who delivered the homily during the Mass, said he has many individuals who encouraged him along this journey. Father Kessler recalled during his senior year, he was told he did not have the intellectual capabilibility to be a priest. Father Kessler was encouraged by many priests, including Father Jerry Neufelder and Father Joe Ziliak, who are both deceased. Father Kessler said they encouraged him to look at St. Mary’s College in Kentucky, which closed permanently in the 1970s. He attended St. Mary’s and eventually studied at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis before being ordained to the priesthood.
“I share this with you parents and grandparents and great grandparents,” Father Kessler said. “Encourage your children and grandchildren. And never tell a kid that he can’t do it. Never tell a kid they can’t go someplace. They’re not capable of doing it. Let them find out. And I think that’s an important thing. I learned that in a very real way.”
During his homily, Father Kessler noted June 8 was Pentecost Sunday. He said we asked God this Pentecost that we can be like God and be coconspirators with God. We are called to breathe with God and breathe with the spirit, he said.
“I think we need encouragement to do that,” Father Kessler said. “To conspire, to breathe with God. Lives of love, lives of encouragement, lives of mercy, lives of justice. And generosity and compassion and holiness and prayer. I think the only question that comes up, will we conspire with God? Will we renew that?”