Fr. Gregory Oligschlaeger silver jubilee

I have tried to live Priesthood as God calls. I was humbly grateful to hear that my service portrays Christ’s joy to others.”

Father P. Gregory Oligschlaeger

Father P. Gregory Oligschlaeger’s second-grade teacher would ask which of the boys in her class wanted to be priests. 

“I always put my hand up,” said Fr. Oligschlaeger.

But was that what God wanted for him? Years later, as a seminarian inching closer to ordination, he still wasn’t certain whether he was supposed to be a priest or a family man.

“I really should know by now,” he told his spiritual director during his third year at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis.

The spiritual director told him, “You could do either well.”

That’s when the light went on in Fr. Oligschlaeger’s head: “Priesthood.”

“From that moment on, there was no question,” he said. “Priesthood fits like a glove. This is who I am.”

Fr. Oligschlaeger will celebrate his 25th priestly anniversary on Sunday, June 10, in the Cathedral of St. Joseph, his home parish and the place where he was ordained.

Bishop W. Shawn McKnight and Bishop Emeritus John R. Gaydos will join him for the 3 p.m. Mass.

“It really feels good at this time to recognize where God has worked in my life, where He has called me to serve and make those intimate connections with people over the past 25 years,” said Fr. Oligschlaeger.

“Come and see”

Born in Boonville, Fr. Oligschlaeger grew up in Jefferson City, where his parents, Paul and Margaret Oligschlaeger, sent him to St. Joseph Cathedral School.

“They were more than ‘Sunday Catholics,’” he recalled. “Mom and Dad were involved in many things. They did a lot of volunteering, and so did us kids.”

Family time was sacred. Having supper as a family each night was mandatory.

His parents made a point of befriending the priests and sisters at the parish, holding them up as everyday role models.

“Getting to know priests is what led me to this vocation,” he said.

In eighth grade, Fr. Oligschlaeger visited St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal, the diocese’s high-school seminary for boys considering the Priesthood.

“I came back and told mom I need to go there,” he recalled. “I was overwhelmed with a sense of, ‘I’ve got to try this.’”

Father Patrick Shortt, now deceased, was Fr. Oligschlaeger’s freshman typing teacher and spiritual director at the seminary.

He was then reassigned to Fr. Oligschlaeger’s home parish and remained there through the young man’s high-school and college years.

“He modeled Priesthood in a way that helped me see that maybe God was calling me to be a priest,” said Fr. Oligschlaeger.

Fr. Oligschlaeger went on to study psychology and philosophy at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio; followed by four years of theology at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis.

“I used to joke that I never left the seminary because I never had a good reason to leave,” he said.

God was working through him in ways Fr. Oligschlaeger had never expected: revealing gifts and talents he never knew he had, filling him with a love of prayer and the Church.

Doubts gave way to the reassurance that “Yes, God, I could do this for You.”

Priest of the people

A relative, the late Father Leo Oligschlaeger, was a priest of the St. Louis archdiocese and ministered in parts of what is now the Jefferson City diocese.

“I never knew Fr. Leo, but his parishioners and fellow priests say he was a ‘priest of the people,’” the younger Fr. Oligschlaeger noted.

“Fr. Leo” spoke their language, visited their homes, befriended their families and even helped with their chores.

“Fr. Greg” wanted to become the same kind of priest, one “who can be found in the crossroads of everyday life.”

As an acolyte, he served a summer internship at the Kirksville and Novinger parishes and the Kirksville Newman Center.

“That’s when I really got to put what I was studying into practice,” he said, “connecting with families, sharing the faith.”

The following summer, he served as a transitional deacon at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Columbia.

On May 8, 1993, in the Cathedral of St. Joseph, Bishop Michael F. McAuliffe, now deceased, ordained him to the Holy Priesthood.

“It was wonderful, peaceful day,” Fr. Oligschlaeger recalled, “a true day of celebration.”

Flood of grace

He became associate pastor of St. Peter parish in Jefferson City, just as the Flood of ’93 was turning the church property into a peninsula.

“Since we were somewhat isolated I had time to reflect on my first month of Priesthood,” he recalled.

All the worries he had had in the seminary about being a priest were gone.

“I was ministering as a priest!” he said. “I was happy, content, fulfilled — even though everything was new, days were full days, and I had to ask a lot of questions.”

He presided at 28 weddings in his first year, and 34 over the next two years at St. Peter. One of his pastors there was Monsignor Donald W. Lammers PA, who had baptized him.

Fr. Oligschlaeger returned to St. Thomas Seminary in 1996 as an instructor and dean of students, working with his colleagues to help young men discover their calling, whatever it was, through the world’s noise.

He got to stand within 10 feet of Pope St. John Paul II at Mass when the pontiff visited St. Louis in 1999. 

When the seminary closed at the end of the 2002 school year, Fr. Oligschlaeger had to work through his own grief while ministering to people who were also grieving around him.

“I think that helped me become more in touch with how people can hurt,” he said. “God used that very difficult situation to help me learn to reach out to people later on who might be going through a hard time.”

He noted that sacrifice is an important part of the Priesthood.

“Sometimes we find ourselves immersed in the sacrifice of Christ, and trusting that God always makes good on the sacrifice,” he said.

Father and companion

Fr. Oligschlaeger then served for four and a half years as pastor of St. Peter parish in Fulton and St. Jude Thaddeus parish in Mokane, followed by eight years as pastor of St. Joseph parish in Martinsburg and Church of the Resurrection parish in Wellsville.

Being a pastor helped him understand more deeply the fatherhood aspect of Priesthood “and to be a companion with people through the years of their spiritual development.”

It brought him delight to baptize babies and be around long enough to give them First Holy Communion, or to help teenagers prepare for confirmation and later preside at their weddings.

Joy of the Gospel

He was surprised in 2015 when Bishop Gaydos appointed him vocation director for the diocese.

Fr. Oligschlaeger has visited almost every parish in the diocese, preaching holiness and encouraging families and faith communities to pray for and encourage priestly and religious vocations.

He said it’s always a blessing “to help people, especially youth, discern God’s call and cooperate with God’s will.”

He noted that it’s important to realize that while there are sacrifices that come with being a priest, there are many more abundant blessings.

About a year ago, someone told him:  “You make a good vocation director because you portray such a positive image of Priesthood — it’s obvious you enjoy being a priest.”

He’s been cultivating and sharing that joy since the day of his ordination.

“I have tried to live Priesthood as God calls,” he said. “I was humbly grateful to hear that my service portrays Christ’s joy to others.”

Where the Master trod

He began his jubilee year with a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Joining him were his parents and other family members, people from his home parish and people representing every phase of his past 25 years of priestly ministry.

He offered Mass at the altar of the Church of the Agony in the Garden.

“The altar overhangs the rock on which Jesus prayed,” Fr. Oligschlaeger said. “That was very touching for all of us.”

They visited many other places where Jesus ministered, including the hill where He multiplied the loaves and fishes to feed 5,000.

Fr. Oligschlaeger was back in Missouri in time to celebrate Holy Week and Easter with the people of Our Lady of the Snows parish in Mary’s Home, where his family roots run deep and where he’s been ministering since Fr. Shortt became seriously ill last year.

Looking ahead

After three years as vocation director, Fr. Oligschlaeger will become pastor of Holy Rosary parish in Monroe City and St. Stephen parish in Indian Creek on June 27.

He’s looking forward to being a pastor again.

“In God’s plan and providence,” he asserted, “each assignment has helped me mature and serve God’s people where I am and then serve God’s people better in my next assignment.” 

One the most amazing things about Priesthood for him is “the way people invite you into their lives in both the saddest times and to celebrate their joys.”

“These 25 years have shown me that people love priests and support priests and want us to do well, because they appreciate the gifts God has given us to serve them,” he said.

He asks for prayers for God to continue using him to help people know and experience Christ’s mercy and compassion.

“I look forward to the journey ahead and the many ways God will ask me to offer myself and His grace to the His people,” he said.