By Jane Schuchardt
Special to The Elgin Review
Said simply, cows and commitment set The Reverend Frank Baumert, Petersburg, on his life journey as a Catholic priest and avid blood donor.
In the quiet of his Pope John Catholic classroom, Father Frank, as he’s lovingly known in our community, summed up his now 73 and a half years, “The whole goal in life is to serve God as best we can in this world. Being a priest helps save souls; giving blood helps saves lives.”
While only God knows how many souls have been saved as a result of his 1978 ordination as a priest for the Archdiocese of Omaha, his blood donation statistics are available through the American Red Cross — just under 200 pints of whole blood (that’s more than 24 gallons!), plus plasma and platelets.
What about those cows and commitment? In his calming and matter-of-fact voice, Father Frank recalled with fondness and respect his early years living on a farm near Howells, a small village in northeast Nebraska. “We were an active Catholic family,” he said as he recounted his mother’s 60 years as an organist and/or choir director at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church. His dad, a WWII veteran, along with his older sister and five younger brothers, all sang in choir.
Two key things – church and patriotism – framed his childhood. His dad inspired him to be a blood donor. He was taught soldiers in wartime needed blood, veterans, too. “It’s an easy way to serve my country and save lives,” Father Frank said as he moved quickly to the dairy herd. “I grew up thinking I’d be a farmer and then I knew there was no way I wanted to milk cows all my life.”
So at the impressionable age of 13, he began his seminary path graduating from St. John Vianney High School in Elkhorn in 1970, then St. Thomas College (now University of St. Thomas) in St. Paul, MN in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. Then, four more years at St. Thomas Seminary in Denver earning a Master of Divinity degree. Throughout this formal educational journey, he gave blood whenever he could and continued priesthood discernment.
Eventually, what started as “I’ll try it out” venture led him to becoming a diocesan priest assigned where needed in the northeast fifth of Nebraska. He explained that in seminary you get to choose what kind of priest you want to be (e.g. religious order, monastic, missionary). “I wanted to serve people in this area (including those who milk cows), because I felt that I understood them better,” he shared.
For the last two years, he’s been the senior associate pastor for eight churches in this area — Tilden, Neligh, Clearwater, Ewing, Deloit Township, Raeville, Petersburg, and Elgin. Also in Elgin, he teaches theology to Pope John high school seniors (one hour, four days a week) and visits elementary classrooms. His teaching modality is largely storytelling, often based on recollections of near-death experiences as he ministers to parishioners. In addition to the Good Book, he also accentuates concepts from his unpublished book Kingdom, the Word We No Longer See.
….see more at this week’s Elgin Review.
