Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank
Rev. Ronald Rank
St. Joseph Church and School 		Fr. Ron's Farewell Rev. Ronald Rank
Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank
Rev. Ronald Rank

Rev. Rank ended his career of active ministry on June 12, 2002 after a lifetime of devotion to the priesthood.

Fr. Ron served as Pastor of St. Joseph Parish from June 1992 until June 2002. We wish him the best that life has to offer, and without question, he will be missed.

The following is Fr. Ron's farewell for all who made his stay memorable here at St. Joe's.

 Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank
Rev. Ronald Rank
Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank
Rev. Ronald Rank  
Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank
Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank Rev. Ronald Rank

In Matthew 9:9-13, the Gospel for the 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus says to Matthew, the tax collector and therefore, sinner, "Follow me." Since this is my final weekend at St. Joseph Church before I retire on June 12, I decided to share with you a little on how I have tried to carry out that invitation of Our Lord.

A Priest's Story: The Early Years
In September, 1946, at the Union Train Station in Chicago, Illinois, I boarded a train at about 11:00 p.m. for an all night ride to Columbus, Ohio. From there, a taxi carried me and my suitcase to Worthington, Ohio, where the Pontifical College Josephinum is located. I was 14 years old, and entering this boarding school seminary was my first step in following Jesus. I spent 12 years there, for high school, college, and theology. I was ordained on June 10, 1958 and my first assignments were to teach in a minor seminary be work in the chancery. After 2 years of this, I spent 3 years in parish ministry.

Then in 1963, the Diocese of Madison started its own minor seminary called Holy Name. I was one of the 5 priests chosen to form the first faculty. I spent 12 years there in teaching and administration, from 1963-1975. During that time, Vatican II had taken place so when I was assigned as pastor at St. Clement Church, Lancaster, WI, I had to learn how to celebrate weddings, funerals, and baptisms in English, rather than Latin.

Life as a Pastor
For 10 years I served as pastor in Lancaster and then spent 4 years outside the Diocese doing retreat work in West Virginia and Rhode Island. In 1989 I came back to parish ministry at St. Ann Church, Stoughton, WI. And in 1991 I came to Waterloo and have been pastor here till the present time.

As I have tried ever so imperfectly to follow Jesus, I have come to know and accept more and more
my weakness and sinfulness. I am coming to understand that Jesus did indeed come "to call sinners" to follow him precisely as "sinners." That means that we know what we want to do and we try to do it but we fail inevitably. It is a wonderful grace to know that God loves us and invites us to follow Jesus even if we do so imperfectly.

Ending My Active Ministry
St. Joseph Church has been a great place for me to end my active ministry. As I like to describe it, St. Joseph parish is "just my size," and I felt very comfortable here. I love working with the children at school, teaching them, reading them stories, being silly, and especially celebrating liturgy with them every Friday.

In that same passage from Matthew, Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea who says, "I desire love, not sacrifice. Over the course of 44 years, I have begun to experience more and more deeply the truth of those words. And this has helped me to be at peace, to be content. I am retiring from the active ministry full of gratitude for all the love that I have experienced through the years, especially here at St. Joseph Church. My heart is full of peace and joy-as well as sadness as I leave you who have been my family in a very real sense for 11 years, and Waterloo, which has been my home. Thank you for being so kind and supportive over the years.

June 16, 2002 Parish Bulletin
Fr. Ron Rank wrote a column that appeared in the June 16, 2002 edition of the St. Joseph Parish bulletin. He wrote:

"What a wonderful way to begin my retirement — beautiful music and liturgy, surprise announcements and gifts, a happy throng of well-wishers at the reception, and lots of hugs and tears!

Thanks to the Parish Council for making the initial plans and to the Altar Sodality for carrying them out so elegantly. And thanks to all who came to the social and expressed their appreciation to me for my ministry here as pastor. I was very humbled by your words and at the same time most grateful. I will be back for weekend Masses (August 3 and August 4, 2002 is the first time), but it will be different; I will be a guest and not part of the family any more. But I will look forward to seeing you on those occasions, and whenever you want to have me visit you, or if you want to visit me at the O'Connor Center.*"

— Fr. Ron Rank

*Note: Fr. Ron has since moved to Marshall, Wisconsin where he currently maintains his residence.

 Rev. Ronald Rank
  Rev. Ronald Rank