Thursday, 02 December 2010 13:43

Father Richard Crager, a native of Parsons celebrated his 25th jubilee, Nov. 14, with his brother priests.
Fr. Crager, a Salesian of Don Bosco, was among 24 priests and brothers who gathered from the Eastern United States and Canada at the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw, N.Y., celebrating major anniversaries of religious profession or priestly ordination.
About 500 members of the Salesian family – priests, brothers, sisters, novices, cooperators, past pupils – and members of the jubilarians’ families, and friends of the jubilarians took part.
Father Crager, 58, has been ordained for 25 years. Born in Parsons to Margie and Ben Crager, he was baptized at St. Mary Church in Parsons and confirmed at St. Francis Church in St. Paul. After earning a bachelor’s degree in education at Kansas State College, Pittsburg, he was attracted to the educational ministry of the Salesians and entered Don Bosco Seminary in Newton, N.J., in 1976.
He made his religious profession in 1978. He studied theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio, and was ordained in Columbus on May 18, 1985. Father Crager has served as a teacher or administrator in Salesian schools and youth centers in Ramsey, N.J., Goshen, N.Y., Boston, Columbus, Haverstraw, and East Boston. Since 2007 he has been associate pastor at St. Anthony Church in Elizabeth, N.J.