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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2010 /  'I'm a happy priest'

by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published March 26, 2010

Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic Msgr. Ferdinand DeCneudt delivers the homily from his wheelchair, seated at the altar at Our Lady Queen of All Saints Church, Fraser.

FRASER — For more than 70 years Msgr. Ferdinand DeCneudt, the oldest priest in the archdiocese, has celebrated Sunday Mass. These days he can no longer stand, so a wheelchair-accessible table is dressed in front of the main altar at Our Lady Queen of All Saints Church for the 11 a.m. Sunday liturgy so the 97-year-old priest can continue to minister as he has done since 1939.

If anybody could claim a right to just take it easy and stay home on Sunday mornings, surely it would be the oldest priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit, a man who has devoted his life to serving God. But Msgr. DeCneudt can be found every Sunday back at the parish he served as pastor from 1964 until 1982.

"He's a phenomenon. He only has one eye and one leg, and he pretty much has to use a wheelchair to get around now, although he walks with the aid of a walker sometimes," says Peggy Bernardo.

"I was his secretary for 18 years, and he's still got me doing things for him from time to time," says Bernardo, who is a member of St. Ronald Parish in Clinton Township but frequently attends Msgr. DeCneudt's Mass at Our Lady Queen of All Saints.

She notes that he also celebrates Mass three times a week "in a little teeny chapel" at the American House senior citizens residence where he lives near Kelly and 13 Mile roads in Roseville.

Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic Msgr. Ferdinand DeCneudt is wheeled down the aisle to the altar during the processional.

Bernardo, who is a great admirer of the Venerable Solanus Casey, the famous Capuchin friar who many hope will be soon beatified, adds, "Monsignor reminds me of Fr. Solanus a lot, because he has accepted everything that has happened in his life and never complained. He's just a beautiful man."

Patrick Cook, a member of Our Lady Queen of All Saints for the past 15 years, calls Msgr. DeCneudt "someone to look up to, someone to treasure – just a fantastic individual."

Speaking of how much the monsignor means to the people of the parish, Sr. Nancy Zajac, OP, says, "He is a model of fidelity and perseverance in service to God and to the Church.

But Msgr. DeCneudt seems a bit embarrassed by all the praise. "I'm no hero, I'm just an old man trying to do what's right," he says.

In answer to a question, Msgr. DeCneudt clarifies the issue of whether he really is the oldest priest. "I am the oldest, but Fr. James Hayes was ordained a year before I was, even though he is younger," he says, adding, "They must not have thought I was as smart or something."

Msgr. DeCneudt explains that he lost his right leg below the knee in an accident in 1938, the year before he was ordained, and lost sight in his right eye about eight years ago because of a detached retina.

Having been a priest now for more than 70 years, Msgr. DeCneudt can be said to have experienced life as a priest in both the old Church (pre-Vatican II) and the new.

"I took to it like a duck to water. Everything about Vatican II seemed so natural to me. I thought it was time to bring us out of the 12th or 13th century," he says about the changes that followed the council.

"I don't see why some of the younger priests are so gung-ho for the Tridentine Mass; I was glad to have the Mass in English," he says.

He acknowledges that Pope Benedict XVI is trying to bring back some of "the old beautiful things" that were part of the Church as it had been as part of what has been called "the renewal of the renewal," and adds, "I can live with that."

But, overall, Msgr. DeCneudt believes today's Church is in good shape, and that in the United States it is healthier than just about anywhere else.

"Look at the way the American Church confronted the clergy sex abuse scandal, and dealt with it. In Ireland they tried to duck it; in Germany they tried to duck it; and look at the trouble they're having now," he says.

"I'm proud of the Church in America; we Americans have a way of adjusting to situations. I'm a very happy priest," he adds.

Msgr. DeCneudt was born in Belgium in 1912, and his earliest memory is of the day the Germans occupied Ghent during the First World War, in October 1914, the month after he turned 2 years old.

"It was not a pleasant day, and I guess I must have been traumatized by seeing all those German troops marching into town all day long, with their helmets and their bayonets," he says.

"And then I remember sitting on my father's shoulders in the plaza in Ghent on armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1914, and all people shouting, 'Vive les Belgiques! Vive les Americains!' ('Long live the Belgians! Long live the Americans!')."

He also recalls arriving in New York with his father and mother and three sisters on the Fourth of July 1920.

The family made its way to Detroit, and lived on Maxwell near Gratiot in what was then St. Catherine Parish. He attended St. Catherine Elementary School, then Cass Technical High School, before entering Sacred Heart Seminary.

After he was ordained in 1939, then-Fr. DeCneudt served as an assistant pastor at Our Lady of Sorrows, the historic Belgian ethnic parish on the city's lower east side, and then at Our Lady of Victory in the Eight Mile-Wyoming area, which was a mission to the black community.

He was pastor of Madonna Parish before going to Our Lady Queen of All Saints, where he built the present church. He was named a monsignor in 1969, and retired from the parish in 1982.

His return to the Fraser parish came about in 1994, after Fr. Ronald Babich became pastor. "When Fr. Babich came, he learned I was living nearby and asked if I could help him out here. He's been very good to me, and makes it very easy for me," Msgr. DeCneudt says.

He speaks with love about the parish: "It's not too big, and people know each other here."