Champion of the Church. Ann Ball

practice sermons hit home with them.

      The brothers mentioned John’s speeches to some friends and the word spread through the small town that the Schnelkers had a good speaker visiting at their home. A Protestant man named Effie got a gang of fellows together and came up to the farm and asked the Schnelker boys if they would ask their guest to give them a talk. John readily agreed and, using stack of hay between the barns as a pulpit, he gave a lively speech. Years later, Effie remembered that as the best sermon he ever heard.

      Fr. Bernard Wiedau, a very pious man, was then the pastor of St. John’s Church at New Haven. On Sundays, the youth sat at the front of the church on straight benches with no backrest. Fr. Wiedau would read the epistle, the gospel, and then preach the sermon, first in German, then in French, and finally in English, in his concern for his multi-ethnic parish. In spite of his watchful eye, occasionally one of the youth would fall asleep during the long, extended sermon, and topple backwards off the bench. The Mass, which began at 10 A.M., was rarely finished before noon.

      The first time John went to confession to the pious old priest, by the time he left the confessional, his face was redder than his hair — he was so embarrassed that others in line would think he was a truly great sinner. As he knelt to say his penance, however, he noticed that the others stayed equally as long, so his mind eased a bit on that score. By the time he returned to the farm afterward, he could joke about it with the boys.

      Young Fr. LaBonte, stationed at nearby Besancon, was the proud possessor of a two-wheeled sulky. By the simple expedient of putting a board across the single seat, two could ride in place of one. John and the Schnelker brothers were often treated to a ride in this way.

      Chapter Five

      Thou Art a Priest Forever

      During Passion Week of 1898, the same year that Teddy Roosevelt and Admiral Dewey were fighting the Spanish-American War, young John Noll received the Subdiaconate with the traditional pledge of celibacy. He made his vow before Archbishop William Henry Elder of Cincinnati and received the Diaconate the following day. Immediately, preparations for his ordination were made.

       Ordination day

      On June 4, 1898, at the early age of 23, John Noll was ordained at the Cathedral of Fort Wayne by Bishop Joseph Rademacher. Originally, a later date had been set, but two compelling reasons caused the date to be changed. First, the gravely ill rector of the Cathedral, Fr. Joseph Brammer, greatly desired to see the ordination of this first seminarian from his parish to be ordained. He feared he would not live until the end of the month, so the Bishop honored his final wish. The second reason was a request by Fr. Henry Boecklemann, who had known John when he was an elementary school student. A diabetic, Fr. Boecklemann planned to take a vacation to rest and wanted John to take his place.

      Fr. Brammer himself made the preparations for the First Mass, to be celebrated on June 5, the feast of the Holy Trinity. He carefully selected a speaker, Msgr. Joseph Kroll, a respected preacher, and two young girls dressed in white to lead the procession to the altar. He also arranged for a large parish reception following the Mass. Afterward, the tired but happy priest went to his bed, never to leave it again. His premonition was correct — he died on June 20.

       A priest at last, 1898

      At the banquet following the reception, John noticed his friends the Schnelkers seated at the end of the table. The young priest got up and went to bring them to sit next to him at the head of the table. His parents were on one side; these close friends on the other. As a gift, they presented John with a nice watch, which — many years later — he returned as a gift to one of their sons.

      Chapter Six

      A Mission Begins

      Less than a week after ordination, the young priest found himself on the train to the far northern part of the state, to the city of Elkhart, to serve as a temporary replacement for the ailing Fr. Boecklemann. Here he was to have full charge of the parish of 150 families while the pastor was gone, a daunting assignment for young Fr. Noll.

       The young priest at home

      Eagerly he walked to the church on Main Street. He smiled as he saw the handsome house next door, which he assumed must be the rectory. When he rang the bell and announced to the friendly sister who answered that he had come to take Fr. Boecklemann’s place while he was gone, he received the first of many shocks he would experience in Elkhart. Instead of welcoming him inside, the sister led him to a series of ramshackle wooden buildings, each hardly larger than a shed, behind the church near the railroad tracks. Fr. Boecklemann had turned his rectory over to the sisters of the Holy Cross for a convent, and he and his mother had moved into the poor quarters behind the church.

      As he ruefully surveyed the unpainted shack with holes in the wall, wondering if it leaked when it rained, the sister smilingly informed him that the hoboes wouldn’t bother him.

      “H-Hoboes?” he stammered. Seeing the look of surprise on his face, she hastened to explain that often when the trains passed by, these wanderers jumped off and headed for what were apparently deserted shacks to sleep a while. Telling the young priest that if he gave them a little food then he wouldn’t bother them, she left him to get washed up before exploring the rest of his new domain.

      On Saturday, Fr. Noll entered the little church apprehensively to hear his first confessions. Fortunately, there were only a few in line, and all went well. The seminary professors had prepared him well for all contingencies and, by the end of the day, the eager young priest found himself wishing for more penitents as an outlet for his zeal. The following day, his first sermons also went smoothly. Two Masses were needed to accommodate all the worshippers, and the rules allowed for the priest to say both in such a case. However, since he could not break his fast from the previous midnight until both were said, Fr. Noll found himself very hungry by the end of the second Mass. After lunch he counted the meager collection. It was just short of six dollars, most of it in pennies.

      Then Fr. Noll prepared for the baptism that was set for two in the afternoon. The ceremony flowed along until he came to the imposition of salt. At the taste, the infant began squalling in its godmother’s arms until it worked itself into a full-fledged tantrum. The rest of the service the baby screamed so loudly that it rattled the young priest badly, and when he finished, the christening party was nearly out of the church before he remembered to call them back to get the information needed for the baptismal registry.