Friday News Roundup: Bishop Wall Elected to National Collections Committee

Father Bernard Douglas Green was born in Bilbrook, Staffordshire, England, on February 22, 1940. He was one of five children born to Edwin and Freda (Byatt) Green. After attending St. Theresa Catholic Primary school, his education continued at St. Joseph’s College (Stoke-on Trent, England), St. Richard Junior Seminary (Driotwich, Germany), Campion Hall Vocation College (London, England), and Heythrop College (Oxfordshire, England) from which he received a Licentiate in Philosophy and a Bachelor of Divinity Degree. He would later receive a Masters Degree in Human Development at St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota. His education also included supervised training programs in prison chaplaincy (Thornbury, England), psychology (Psychosynthesis Institute of Chicago, Illinois), and counseling (Counseling-Learning Institutes of Dubuque, Iowa).

Fr. Bernie became acquainted with the Society of the Divine Savior (Salvatorians) at the Salvatorian College in Abbots Langley, England. After a year as a Candidate for the Society, he entered the Novitiate in Abbots Langley where he made his profession of vows on September 8, 1965. After completing his seminary studies, he was ordained a priest on September 9, 1973, and served as the Associate Pastor in Christ the King Parish in Thornbury, England, and the Director of Ecumenism for the diocese for three years. But Fr. Bernie was experiencing a drawing toward ministering in other countries. He was intrigued by the many possibilities that were offered in the United States, and he received permission to apply for ministry in the Society’s province in the USA. From 1976 to 1981, while in residence with the community at St. Pius X Parish in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, he pursued advanced studies and also served as chaplain at St. Mary’s Nursing Home in Milwaukee, a ministry of the Salvatorian Sisters. He  officially transferred into the USA Province in May of 1982, but returned to England for a short time that year, training at Our Lady of Victories Treatment Center in Stroud. In 1983, he came back to the USA and taught Pastoral Counseling and Communications at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin, until 1987. For the three years that followed, he consulted and trained at the Counseling-Learning Center in Dubuque, Iowa. In 1990, he returned to St. Pius X Parish in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, as part-time Associate Pastor and also as campus minister of Mount Mary College in Milwaukee.

The year 1992 would take Fr. Bernie into the desert lands of Arizona, where he ministered until his retirement in 2011. During those years, he served in several places: Sacred Heart Parish (Tucson), St. Odilia Parish (Tucson), St. Catherine’s Parish (Cibecue – located in the White Mountain Apache Reservation), and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish (Tempe), where he also served as Director of the Institute for the Study of Catholic Faith and Life.

Fr. Bernie became a U.S. citizen in 1995, proudly proclaiming: “God Save America!” – a kind of cross between “God Bless America” and “God Save the Queen” – said in that wry tongue-in cheek manner with a twinkle in his eye by which he came to be known by everyone. But it also spoke to a greater quality in Fr. Bernie – he found himself at home wherever he lived, on both sides of the “pond.” Whether in England or the United States, in the city or in the desert, in the world of psychology or the world of the Church, he was comfortable living in, talking about, and writing about those worlds. And he was a prolific writer! He published numerous books and articles in scholarly magazines about counseling and about faith. A constant theme that ran through his writings spoke of finding a sense of wholeness and integrity. Fr. Bernie believed that people needed to have a strong mind, a strong faith, and a strong Church. In his writings, he encouraged people to bridge any gaps that might exist within themselves between mind and faith and Church. During his years of ministry in Arizona among the Native Americans, he created a “cultural exchange” between members of the Apache nation and people in his homeland of Staffordshire County, England. The story of that experience was chronicled by one of the British participants – Anne Millington – in her book “Apache Exchange,” weaving the histories of a Native American man, an Arizona-Britain tour guide, and a modern spirituality into a tale of two continents and an interesting look at America’s home missions from the outside. Fr. Bernie, along with Sr. Darlene Pienschke SDS, who also worked on the Reservation, wrote a book about their own experiences there entitled “Stories of Faith: Among the White Mountain Apache.”

In 2011, Br. Bernie retired and returned to England. In the Fall of 2017, his health worsened and he moved to a facility that could better care for his changing needs. He died there peacefully on November 9, 2020, at the age  of 80. His funeral and burial will be held in Oulton-near-Stone, England.

Although he had returned to his baptismal name, during his first year or so in the Society, he was known by his religious name “Aidan.”

Sister Fran Wilhelm, 91, an Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph, died Nov. 5, 2020, at Mount Saint Joseph, in her 73rd year of religious life.

A native of Waterflow, NM, she taught there at Sacred Heart Academy (1949-50). She taught at St. Rose School, Blanco (1950-51), Sacred Heart School, Farmington (1951-53 in the classroom, 1953-62 as music teacher) and St. Joseph School, San Fidel (1962-64). She also taught in Kentucky and South America, and served in internal ministry. From 1993-2018, she was director of Centro Latino in Owensboro, Ky.

Survivors include the members of her religious community and a sister, Lee Andriakos, of Warwick, Pa.

Gifts in memory of Sister Fran may take the form of donations to the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, 8001 Cummings Road, Maple Mount, KY 42356.

The Friday news roundup presents a quick overview of Catholic stories and events from around the Diocese of Gallup, United States, and world. Have a news tip or event to promote? Email [email protected], call 505-863-4406 or mail us at PO Box 1338, Gallup NM 87305