Monroe John Matthiesen

Monsignor Monroe John Matthiesen, 91, passed away Wednesday, September 24, 2008 in St. Joseph’s Home for Retired Priests in Panhandle, Texas.

Mass of Resurrection will be celebrated in Panhandle at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church on Friday with retired Bishop Leroy T. Matthiesen as principal celebrant. Concelebrants will be Bishop Patrick J. Zurek, Msgr. Joseph Tash, homilist, and brother priests of the Diocese of Amarillo. After the Mass, Msgr. Matthiesen’s body will be delivered to Lange Funeral Home in Ballinger.

A rosary/vigil service will be held that evening, Friday, September 26 at 8:00 p.m. at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Olfen. Another Mass of Resurrection will be celebrated Saturday, September 27 at 10:00 a.m. also at St. Boniface Catholic Church with burial to follow in the St. Boniface Cemetery.

Monsignor Matthiesen was born September 28, 1916 in Olfen. He was the second of eight children born to Joe and Rosa Matthiesen. He attended elementary school in Olfen and entered his first year of high school in Price Memorial College in Amarillo in 1930. He then transferred for his sophomore year to the Pontifical College Josephinum north of Columbus, Ohio.

He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Amarillo on May 30, 1943 and was assigned to old Sacred Heart Cathedral in Amarillo. His duties included teaching a religion class and coaching a girls’ basketball team at St. Mary’s Academy.

Subsequent assignments took him to McCamey, with missions in Rankin and Crane, where he also pitched on a semi-pro baseball team; to Canadian, Happy (1952), Spearman (1955), St. Mary’s in Amarillo, and St. Theresa’s Church in Panhandle (1967).
This final assignment turned into more than the typical pastoring duties. He also served concurrently as director of St. Ann’s Nursing Home, chaplain of Sancta Maria Convent, director of St. Joseph’s Home for Retired Priests that he oversaw building in 1976, and director of the Catholic Children’s Home, which closed in 1990. He retired as pastor of St. Theresa’s Parish in 1991 and continued to serve as chaplain of Sancta Maria Convent and director of St. Joseph’s Home for Retired priests until March of this year.

Msgr. Matthiesen is survived by his brother, Bishop Matthiesen; two sisters, Irene Mazur and Olga Miller of San Angelo; and two other brothers, Arnold Matthiesen of Olfen and Norbert Matthiesen of Brady.

The family suggests that memorials be made to the Matthiesen Seminary Burse.