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Fr. Bernard C. GoertzI was born into the Rockne community on July 4, 1928, and attended Sacred Heart School at Rockne through the 7th Grade. Then at the tender age of 13, I went off to St. John’s seminary in San Antonio to begin my studies to become a priest. Since I took my high school, college and three years of post-graduate studies in the seminary, I was there for eleven tough and difficult years but it led to my ordination as a priest on May 31, 1952 at Sacred Heart Church in Rockne. Most of the Rockne community was present for that occasion. My cousin, Fr. Victor Goertz, and I started off together in Rockne, we were classmates for seventeen years, and we were ordained together at Rockne on the same day. We are still good friends after these many years.My first assignment as a newly ordained priest was as Associate Pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Temple for six years. During that time, I was invited to become Battalion Chaplain for the local National Guard unit and on Dec. 1, 1954, I was sworn into the Texas National Guard as a First Lieutenant. This rather simple step was to play a very important role in my future life. When the Berlin Wall went up in 1961, it seemed as if we might go to war with Russia and the 49th Armored Division of the Texas National Guard (to which I belonged) was called into federal service. I was pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Lampasas at the time and had to leave my position and report to Fort Polk, Louisiana. One thing led to another and I stayed on active duty as a Catholic Chaplain in the army for the next 23 years. I retired as a Colonel on June 30, 1984 and came back home to the Rockne area where I grew up. I found life in the army to be very interesting. I moved thirteen times in 23 years. I spent six years in Germany, one year in Vietnam, and five months in Honduras. Other assignments took me to Louisiana, Texas, New York, Utah and Washington, DC. Thanks to my army career, I was able to visit all fifty states that make up the United States and during the years, I was able to travel in about thirty-five countries of the world. Not bad for a kid who grew up on a farm at Rockne. It was my education that brought it all about. I am now in my 20th year of retirement from the army but I continue to serve as a priest in the Diocese of Austin. I live in my own home on ten acres of land near Bastrop with hundreds of oak trees and three dogs. Over these last twenty years, I have helped out in sixty different parishes of the diocese but now at age seventy-five, I have quit wandering around the diocese and stay closer to home. Each Friday I have Mass for the “old folks” in the nursing home at Bastrop, on Saturday afternoons I have Mass for the “trusties” at the Federal Prison near Bastrop, and on Sundays, I have two Masses at my own small church on the outskirts of Austin. I plan to continue these limited activities so long as the good Lord continues to bless me with good health. Editor’s note: Fr. Bernard wrote this autobiography in 2005 when he participated in “Rockne’s Living History”, a program conducted by Barbara Manson, fourth grade teacher at Red Rock School near Rockne. |
