Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / Fr. Wolber, 'a solid priest' and St. Genevieve Parish founder, dies at 95
Fr. Wolber, 'a solid priest' and St. Genevieve Parish founder, dies at 95
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 9, 2009
Detroit – All it took was a mention from Fr. Howard Vogan back in 1998 that he "could use some help" to motivate Fr. Ferdinand A. Wolber to become once again actively involved in the life of St. Genevieve Parish in Livonia.
Fr. Wolber had founded the parish in 1959, and reached senior priest status the same year the parish celebrated its silver jubilee in 1984.
Fr. Vogan said Monday that Fr. Wolber jumped at the chance to pitch in and help, visiting the six nursing homes in the parish, celebrating daily Mass and hearing confessions. And he kept it up until 2006, when old age finally caught up to him.
"He had a good sense of humor, and people really liked him," Fr. Vogan said.
Fr. Wolber died Sunday, Jan. 4, at Marywood Nursing Home in Livonia, where he had lived in recent years. He was 95. Fr. Vogan said Fr. Wolber always worked well with the youth of the parish: "I announced Sunday that any former altar servers who wished to serve his funeral Mass should phone the parish office on Monday, and we've been getting calls all day. Some college students are coming back from college to serve the Mass; some high school students are taking the day off."
Speaking of Fr. Wolber's legacy at St. Genevieve, Fr. Vogan said the parish founder had left his successors "a spiritually rich Catholic parish, with beautiful buildings – debt free, and there was money in (the archdiocesan) savings (program)." And he said it was clear parishioners appreciated Fr. Wolber by the warmth and respect they always showed him.
Fr. Eduard Perrone served as an associate pastor under Fr. Wolber for three years in the early 1980s, "and ever since then, we've been pretty good friends," said Fr. Perrone, now pastor of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Grotto) Parish in northeast Detroit.
"He was a solid priest – that was his great claim to glory," Fr. Perrone said, adding that Fr. Wolber "preserved the integrity of priestly work and dignity during all those years of turmoil and change after the Second Vatican Council."
He said Fr. Wolber was always approachable, but also quick to correct any behavior that strayed from Church teachings: "If he saw a problem, he would correct it on the spot."
Fr. Perrone praised Fr. Wolber as a "tough guy" – a man of principle and not one to be intimidated by anyone's position in this life. "I learned a lot from him."
Fr. Wolber was born Nov. 25, 1913, in Detroit to Maurice and Marie (Litgardt) Wolber. He attended St. Elizabeth Grade School on Detroit's east side, then went to Sacred Heart Seminary for high school and college. He continued his priestly formation at Mount St. Mary Seminary in Norwood, Ohio.
He was ordained May 18, 1940 by Cardinal Edward Mooney.
Fr. Wolber served as assistant pastor at Nativity of Our Lord, St. Monica and St. Edward parishes, all in Detroit, and at St. Clement Parish, Center Line.
His next and final assignment was as founding pastor of St. Genevieve Parish.
Besides his parish assignments, Fr. Wolber served 1945-47 as a U.S. Army chaplain in the Philippines and Japan, and then as a National Guard chaplain for 14 years after his return, rising to assistant division chaplain for Michigan.
Over the years, however, he also worked at Catholic Youth Organization summer camps, and later served on the archdiocesan Priests Senate and the Incardination Board. A funeral Mass was to be celebrated for Fr. Wolber Thursday, Jan. 8, at noon, at St. Genevieve Church, Livonia. Cardinal Adam Maida was scheduled to be principal celebrant, with Fr. Perrone as homilist.
Burial was to be in Assumption Grotto Cemetery, Detroit.
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