Father Scheier passes away April 16

The funeral Mass was live-streamed and is recorded here: Youtube channel

Father Steven Scheier spent the last years of his life in some seclusion, Bishop Carl A. Kemme said in a homily at Father Scheier’s funeral Tuesday, April 21, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita.

“He nevertheless spent his days in prayer and praise, offering his own pain, suffering, and distress for the glory of God and for the salvation of souls,” the bishop said to those watching via the internet, unable to attend because of the pandemic shelter-in-place proclamation.

Priests unable to attend funeral

Typically the priests of the diocese gather for the funeral of one of their brothers, he said.

“Though most cannot be present in person, I invite them to lift up their prayers with me today for the repose of our brother and ask the Lord, high priest of the Eternal Covenant, to show mercy to our brother for his sins and grant him the reward he deserves for the gift of his life and service,” Bishop Kemme said. “We cannot calculate the souls he touched by his priestly service.”

Commenting on one of the readings from the Book of Revelation, the bishop said the faithful look forward to a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem, where all those there enjoy them without limitations or longings.

After reflecting on the Gospel story about the Road to Emmaus, Bishop Kemme said our hearts, too, burn with an even more intense desire because we can only break bread virtually and spiritually.

“Father Scheier and all those who lived their lives as he did, now know the source of that divine burning fire. And one day we will as well, when we and all the saints will be consumed by the divine light and live forever in its brilliant glow.”

The faithful now gather to bury the “earthly temple” of a brother priest, the bishop said. “We pray that the judge of the living and the dead will look upon Father Scheier with mercy and tenderness and invite him to take his place in the new creation.”

Father Scheier died on April 16 at age 72

Father Scheier, a retired priest of the Diocese of Wichita, died Thursday, April 16, at the Catholic Care Center in Wichita. He was 72.

Father Scheier was born on May 3, 1947, in Wichita. He studied for the priesthood at Conception Seminary in Conception, Missouri, and at St. Thomas Seminary in Denver. He was ordained by Bishop David M. Maloney in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on May 26, 1973.

Father was initially assigned as an associate at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Wichita. He was moved to All Saints as an associate in 1977 while serving as a chaplain at the nearby Catholic Center for the Aging.

Father Scheier served at Our Lady of Lourdes in Pittsburg, St. Francis of Assisi in Wichita, St. Patrick Parish in Kingman, Sacred Heart Parish in Fredonia, St. Ignatius in Neodesha, and at St. Rose in Columbus and Immaculate Conception in West Mineral during the 1980s.

He was named pastor of Mary, Queen of Angels Parish in Fort Scott in 1993. In 1996 he was released to assist the Community of the Intercessors of the Lam in Omaha, Nebraska. He returned to the diocese in 1998 when he was named temporary pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Wichita.

Father Scheier was named pastor of St. Rose of Lima in Council Grove and St. Anthony in Strong City in 1998. Two years later he was named pastor of Holy Name in Bushton and Holy Trinity in Little River.

His last appointment was in 2008 when he was named pastor of St. Martin of Tours in Caldwell. Father Scheier retired in 2013.