On April 29, Fr. Frank Wittouck, SCJ, was the most recent speaker in the “Coffee and Conversations” series at Sacred Heart at Monastery Lake. During his hour with residents he shared stories of his over 67 years of religious life as a Dehonian.
Originally from Chicago, Fr. Frank had polio as a child but recovered and entered the minor seminary as a teen. He was ordained in 1965 and has served in a wide variety of ministries, including education, parishes, and 20 years traveling the world as a military chaplain. But it was a ministry that he embraced later in life that he says really got him thinking about his vocation as a priest: serving as a prison chaplain.
“One of our priests [Fr. Chuck Kelly, SCJ] was dying of cancer but was still active in prison ministry,” said Fr. Frank. “I told him ‘You shouldn’t be doing this, you’re sick!’ And then he did something that totally surprised me; he quoted Matthew’s Gospel: ‘When I was in prison, you visited me.’ This went through me like a thunderbolt. I eventually went to the prison myself and it really moved me. The ministry genuinely helped my priesthood.”
Fr. Frank – or, “Fr. Witty” as many call him – is now retired but continues to be active with a Milwaukee area social service center, and with seminarians at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology.
He is pictured above during the presentation.
