Father Thế moving to Lake City parish

This weekend, Father Thế Hoàng will be performing his last masses in Waseca County before he leaves for his new church in Lake City, Minnesota. There will be a farewell celebration following the masses on Saturday and Sunday at Sacred Heart Church with food and beverages provided. Father Glenn Frerich will be joining the parish in Waseca starting in July. 

Thế has been a priest for five years, spending the last three of them here at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Waseca, working not only as the leader of the church but of the Sacred Heart School as well. 

“I hate to leave the good people here in Waseca,” said Thế, “but God has other plans.”

Reflecting on his departure, Thế mentioned how bittersweet he feels to leave the families and their children, whom he enjoyed teaching at the school.  

Jeannie Feldkamp is the music coordinator for Sacred Heart. She has six children who have and are attending the school and the church. She says that Thế was fantastic with the children when he taught and helped at the school, and while leading its masses every Wednesday. Feldkamp’s children have been altar servers for Thế the three years he has been in Waseca; they were impressed that Thế would pray with them before every mass. This is something Fr. Thế said he learned from his mentor priest in Rochester, someone he learned a lot from. 

Fr. Thế said the best advice he received was from this mentor, who told him “When you become a priest and you’re teaching, remember yourself when you were young sitting in that pew and recalling what type of priest you wanted.”

“For me that struck a chord,” Thế explained. “That advice helped me to become real and focus on what the mission of the parish priest was and to bring others to Jesus.” 

Thế’s advice and goodbye message to the parishes is to just love Jesus. “People and priests come and go, so fall in love with the one who will never disappoint you and will always be there for you,” he said. 

Bill Fitzsimmons has worked withThế almost every day at the church and says he is sad to see him leave. Fitzsimmons, 89, has faithfully served Sacred Heart Church and the priests who come through since the second priest at Sacred Heart in the early 1900s. He does different jobs such as ushering during services and getting materials ready for masses, whatever he can do to help. 

When asked about whether or not he was going to serve Fr. Frerichs when he came, Fitzsimmons says he will continue to serve until he dies. 

Fr. Thế explained that when priests move, they usually meet with the priest ahead of them to gain a perspective of the history of the church and how things are run. According to Thế, each parish has its own culture, its own history, and its own people and lessons. His favorite learning method is by spending time with the parish community and the people in it. 

“My goal is just to love the people more and show them that Jesus is real,” Fr. Thế said.