Countdown to ordination: ‘You guys are lucky’

By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger

LANDECK, Ohio — Fourteen-year-old altar server Aiden Kroeger and Bishop-elect Dennis Walsh call each other “cuz,” Aiden’s mom, Shelly Kroeger said. The bishop-elect  “is actually our cousin,” Shelly’s daughter, Chloe, 19, explained, after the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Vigil Mass at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church here.  The Kroeger family, including husband and father Dave Kroeger, all had roles in the Vigil Mass — Aiden as Bishop-elect Walsh’s altar server and the rest of the family as gift bearers.

Bishop-elect Walsh served as pastor of the Landeck parish from the time Aiden was 4 years old until just a month ago, before heading to Davenport to become the 10th Bishop of the Diocese of Davenport on Sept. 27. “You guys are lucky. You’re getting a good one,” Shelly Kroeger said.

Aiden may feel the loss even more keenly. “Those two are very close. They get along very well,” Shelly continued.  “We joke around a lot,” said Aiden, who loves serving at Mass for Bishop-elect  Walsh.  “What makes him a good priest is that he relates to you, doesn’t he?” Dave Kroeger said, looking at Aiden. “He’s got good homilies,” the teenager responded.

Chloe, a college sophomore, appreciates that Bishop-elect Walsh always visited the youths of parishes he served at the country fairs where they showed animals or 4-H projects. Chloe said that Bishop-elect Walsh loves goats. Shelly said she teasingly asked Bishop-elect  Walsh if he would have room for a goat in Davenport. “He said he didn’t think so.”

Rubi Wrasman, 14, also an altar server at the Vigil Mass, described Bishop-elect Walsh as very funny and a good communicator. “You’ll get along with him.”

Art and Connie Weber of the Landeck parish said they have known Bishop-elect Walsh since he was a kid. Art said he and the bishop are first cousins, once removed. Art and Connie’s son Bruce has special needs and is just a year younger than the bishop-elect. He has always kind and nice to Bruce, the Webers said. “Anyone who is kind to our son is a friend of ours,” Connie said. Art said he was “flabbergasted,” when he learned of Bishop-elect Walsh’s appointment. “Can you imagine getting that phone call?” Connie asked.