Religious Leaders Share

Monsignor Richard Hilgartner relays a story about his ministry at the vocations lunch and learn for grades sixth through eight at St. Joseph Catholic School in Cockeysville February 1, 2023. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

By George P. Matysek Jr., Catholic Review

COCKEYSVILLE – Monsignor Richard Hilgartner counts standing on the top deck of a 1,500-foot container ship as among the most unusual things he’s ever done as a priest.

Students from grades six through eight at St. Joseph Catholic School in Cockeysville attend the vocations lunch and learn as part of Catholic Schools Week. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Invited to bless the massive vessel by a parishioner who works for the Port of Baltimore, the pastor of St. Joseph in Cockeysville said the “Prayer for the Blessing of the Means of Transportation” as he sprinkled holy water on a ship that held 15 decks of cargo in its hull.

“It had like four decks of cars, trucks and all kinds of stuff,” Monsignor Hilgartner told a Feb. 1 gathering of middle schoolers at St. Joseph School. “I got to stand on the bridge and bless this boat, looking out over all the cranes and the Dundalk Marine Terminal.”

As exciting as that moment was, Monsignor Hilgartner said, it’s his day-to-day ministry as a parish priest that’s even more rewarding.

“Yesterday, I was at the hospital with a man in his 90s who’s been a parishioner here since 1959 and he knows he’s dying,” the priest said, noting that the man had chaired the building committee involved in the church building’s expansion in 1967 and had volunteered in a variety of roles, including serving as one of the archdiocese’s first extraordinary ministers of holy Communion.

“I told him that the Lord is going to say to you, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’” Monsignor Hilgartner said.

The pastor shared his experiences of religious life as part of a vocations panel that included three other priests, a deacon, a religious sister, a religious brother and a seminarian who answered written questions submitted by St. Joseph students.

Father Steven Roth, director of vocations for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, shares thoughts during the vocations lunch and learn for grades six through eight at St. Joseph Catholic School in Cockeysville. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

As youngsters munched on salad and baked ziti during FINISH READING HERE

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