Father Vic Bieberle

In 1995 Father Vic Bieberle retired as a Catholic pastor and moved to the Village from Kansas.  On May 21^st, Father Vic celebrated 59 years as a priest.  The parishioners honored him with potluck dinner two days later.

Victor Bieberle was born in Bushton KS and grew up on his parents’ farm with his two sisters and a brother. His family was faith-filled, and his Catholic religion was an important part of everyday life.   As an eighth grade student, he approached his parents with the desire to pursue a vocation to the priesthood, and with his parents approval, attended the Salvatorian minor seminary in St. Nazianz, Wisconsin for the next six years.

Father Vic entered St. Thomas Seminary in Denver to complete his studies to the priesthood, and was ordained in May, 1951 in his home parish in Bushton, KS.  The bishop of his diocese believed that the families of his home parish should be able to witness and celebrate the ordination of one of their own members, and so the bishop came to Bushton to confer the priesthood.

Father Vic began his service within the Wichita Diocese as an assistant at Blessed Sacrament Church in Wichita.  At the request of the Bishop, he was also appointed chaplain for the Kansas National Guard and was commissioned as a First Lieutenant. This appointment required that he attend the weekly guard meetings as well as summer camp in addition to his regular duties as a parish priest.  After serving as an assistant pastor for 4 years, Father became pastor of a small church in southern Kansas and later moved to pastor in Marion, Kansas.  While serving as pastor in Marion he was approached by the bishop to accept a full-time military assignment as chaplain.  In 1960 he began that assignment with the 101^st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. During his 8 years of chaplain service he was stationed in Korea, Vietnam, and the Dominican Republic as well as various bases in the U.S.  In 1969 Father Vic completed his military service and returned as pastor of St. Anne’s Church in Wichita.  He then finished his pastoral duties with the diocese after being assigned to Holy Cross Catholic Church in Hutchinson, KS, from 1987 until his retirement in 1995.

There were many rectories he called home between that beginning assignment in 1951 and retirement in 1995. There were also a lot more unusual congregations he shepherded in those intervening years – men with whom he served as chaplain of the 101^st Airborne, soldiers in Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, and Korea. Bringing Christ to the troops and celebrating the Eucharist during wartime was just part of his service to God and His people.

Even in retirement, Father Vic remains active with his fellow parishioners at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church where he serves as Faithful Friar for the 4^th Degree Assembly, and occasionally officiates at mass when requested.