Obituaries
Father Dittberner was a longtime seminary professor
Father Jerome Dittberner, who was a full-time member of the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity faculty for 39 years, died May 7. He was 74 years old.
He was ordained a priest for the archdiocese on Feb. 16, 1964, and joined the seminary faculty in 1970. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Loyola University in Chicago and received his STL and STD in Rome.
In 2009, he was given professor emeritus status upon his retirement from full-time teaching.
Funeral Mass information was not available when The Catholic Spirit went to press.
Father Schneider served in Chaska
Franciscan Father Conran Schneider, who grew up in Victoria and ministered at Guardian Angels in Chaska, died April 23. He was 87.
Arthur Schneider followed his older brother Franciscan Father Fred Schneider into the seminary and Sacred Heart Province of the Order of Friars Minor. He was given the name Conran July 2, 1943, and professed final vows July 5, 1947. He was ordained a priest June 24, 1951, in Illinois. He served in parish ministry for 42 years and then as a hospital chaplain, before retiring from full-time ministry.
A funeral Mass was celebrated at Guardian Angels, April 26, with interment at St. Victoria cemetery in Victoria.
Father Cal Giesen served in St. Paul
Franciscan Father Cal Giesen, who served six years (three as pastor) at Sacred Heart in St. Paul, died April 30. He was 90.
Norbert Giesen was born on Dec. 3, 1921, in Union Hill. He was baptized and confirmed there at St. John Parish. He entered the novitiate for Sacred Heart Province of the Order of Friars Minor on Aug. 14, 1944, receiving the name Callistus, which he later shortened to Cal. He professed solemn vows Aug. 19, 1945, and was ordained a priest Dec. 19, 1947, in Springfield, Ill.
He taught at the high school and minor seminary level before serving in parish ministry across the country.
A funeral Mass was celebrated May 9 at St. Wenceslaus in New Prague with interment at St. John’s Cemetery, Union Hill.
