Msgr. Seifried receives St. John Paul II Award

By LORI BERGLUND
Special to Lumen Media
 
Born in the depths of the Great Depression in 1936, Msgr. Ken Seifried learned how to work, and learned how to serve. Now just a few years shy of his 90^th birthday, Msgr. Seifried continues to offer daily Mass four times a week in three different parishes near his home in Holstein.

The Army veteran and Manson native even continued to work as a substitute teacher in the local public high school far into his retirement years, ceasing only when the pandemic hit.
            
“I really miss that, because now if I go to a football game I don’t know the kids,” Msgr. Seifried said.

Retirement has not been a time for Msgr. Seifried to sit idly and recall times gone by. Rather, he remains a people’s priest in the most robust sense of the word. It is the happiness he brings to his vocation that motivated Catholics at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Holstein to nominate him for the St. John Paul II Fund for Priests award earlier this summer.

The St. John Paul II award recognizes priests, living or deceased, who have
 had an impact on the lives of the people they have served. The award program is part of fundraising efforts for the Institute for Priestly Formation (IPF) in Omaha.

Msgr. Seifried Msgr. Seifried noted that nearly all dioceses in the United States participate in IPF programs for seminarians. Many other nations also send seminarians or priests to retreats offered by IPF. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, is a member of the governing board and Msgr. 

Seifried said the cardinal, formerly bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City, has long been supportive of IPF for its work in helping form men to the priesthood.
            
Helping seminarians and priests “grow in holiness and closeness to the Holy Trinity” is the focus of IPF. The organization fills a gap in reaching out in service to those who are called to serve others.
           
 Msgr. Seifried recalled the verse from the Gospel of Mark, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile.”
           
 IPF provides that quiet place for priests and seminarians.
           
“Even Jesus said you have to rest awhile,” said Msgr. Seifried. “You really can become drained. Jesus said, ‘Come away, let’s rest.”
           
 Of course, he noted, that quiet time was soon ended when crowds appeared yet again and our Lord fed the multitudes with just a few loaves of bread and some fish.
            
The work of IPF is to give seminarians and priests even a brief time for spiritual refreshment and then the tools to carry on the work of their vocation.
            
Msgr. Seifried noted that, in today’s digital world, many people — young people, especially — need better tools to connect on a personal basis with one another. He reflected upon his personal connections as an Army chaplain during the Vietnam War.
 
Military service
Ordained in 1963, Msgr. Seifried was still a young priest when, with permission from the bishop of Sioux City, he joined the Army and became a chaplain in 1970. He would serve 28 years in the military, including one full year in Vietnam.

​Read about Monsignor's military service​​​   
“It was the worst year of my life,” Msgr. Seifried said frankly. “I would get in a helicopter on Sunday morning, and they would fly me out to a jungle mountain top. There would be two or three guys that would come out and I would offer Mass.”
            
Back in the helicopter, he was off to another jungle location, offering as many as eight Masses each Sunday, but with only a few soldiers present most of the time.
            
“The cardinal for the military told me, ‘Don’t get discouraged if only one or two are there. Billy Graham preaches to thousands, but how many individuals does he get to talk with one-on-one?’”
   Msgr. Seifried (right) serving as Army chaplain during the Vietnam War         It was the one-on-one conversations and the ability to bring the sacraments of the Eucharist and/or reconciliation to the battlefield that mattered, not the size of the congregation.
 
Personal contact
            
Likewise, Msgr. Seifried sees a need today for more personal conversations, which in turn can lead to greater evangelization.
            
“Cell phones are making people introverted these days,” Msgr. Seifried said. “There’s not too much socializing. You need to get out and visit with people, you have to be a conversationalist. You have to be an extrovert.”
            
That, to him, is what it takes to evangelize in an increasingly secularized. To the parish members at Holstein who nominated Msgr. Seifried, he stands out as a priest who can be an example to young priests today on how to serve their flock.
            
When he retired from the military, Msgr. Seifried returned to his home diocese of Sioux City and continued to serve area churches in Granville and Milford before finally retiring at Holstein. Having started his career at Carroll Kuemper Catholic Schools, the military allowed him to earn two advanced degrees as he travelled the world.
           
 The St. John Paul II award caps a long and interesting ministry, devoted to serving the people of God wherever they might be, from a jungle mountain top in Vietnam, to a small country church in Iowa.
            
Msgr. Seifried was presented with an engraved medallion for the St. John Paul II award, and his name is enshrined with other priests so honored by IPF.
            
For individuals, parish organizations, and the like, who also know a priest who is a shining example of living his vocation, they can learn more on the website for the Institute for Priestly Formation, Omaha. There is a $5,000 donation for the program, which can be raised by groups or individuals seeking to honor a priest.
            
The funds are closely governed and used to help grow holy priests for the future. Programs range from summer programs for seminarians, alumni retreats, training in spiritual direction, retreats for vocation directors, and much more.
             
For more information visit the website at priestlyformation.org.

Lori Berglund is a freelance writer based in Dayton. She is a member of Holy Trinity Parish, Webster County.