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“When I was a little kid I used to go upstairs and build little bitty altars and play priest,” Msgr. Wagner recalls, smiling at the memory. Two of his six sisters (he had no brothers) became nuns.
He went off to St. John’s Seminary in San Antonio for his first year of high school, eventually being ordained in San Fernando Cathedral in 1949. The four remaining members of his ordination class of eight still meet annually, something they have done every year since their graduation. These reunions are recorded in numerous albums, with many of the photos taken by Msgr. Wagner himself, who developed his photography skills while at the seminary.
His first assignment as a priest was at Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Shiner, then a part of the San Antonio Archdiocese. Next came St. Philip in El Campo. Then he was called back to San Antonio to serve as parochial vicar from 1953 to 1958 at St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and as priest in charge of St. Anthony Shrine.
It was a difficult time for the little shrine, but Msgr. Wagner has fond memories of the Missionary Sisters of St. Anthony who ran it. “They ran what, to my mind, is a Catholic school,” he said. “It was just a marvelous Catholic school.”
He recalled how the sisters would go out to Cementville and the surrounding area, rounding up children of all ethnicities for the school and feeding and clothing as well as teaching them. During this period he also taught Bible classes as part of the curriculum at San Antonio College.
In 1958, Archbishop Robert E. Lucey called him for a new assignment. He was to be the executive secretary for the United States Bishops Committee for the Spanish Speaking — a new undertaking that would attempt to prepare U.S. dioceses for ministering to the growing Hispanic population.
“Our mission,” Msgr. Wagner related, “was to try to get the different dioceses to at least assign a contact priest for the committee, and to assure them that things were going to change, that the Hispanic population was going to blossom and to be ready for them.”
The committee’s first national meeting took place in St. Louis in 1958, with the explosion of the Cursillo Movement taking place at that same gathering. The committee’s headquarters were in San Antonio, with an office later opening in Chicago as well, and Msgr. Wagner was soon caught up in undertakings of national significance, involved with the committee’s lobbying in Washington and state capitals and working with Sen. Ted Kennedy on establishing the Peace Corps and the Vista volunteers, with Sen. Robert Kennedy on issues regarding migrant farm workers and with Martin Luther King in the Civil Rights movement.
The committee helped set up the National Council for the Spanish Speaking, whose president was Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, and Msgr. Wagner was involved, as well with the War on Poverty and the Bracero Program.
In San Antonio, a statewide committee looked after migrant workers’ rights, disbanding when the workers were able to organize on their own. “We met them in Alice, Texas,” recalled Msgr. Wagner, “and said, ‘We’re disbanding the Texas Committee on Migratory Farm Workers. It’s your responsibility now. We’ll be with you, but you take on to lead it.’”
By the time his committee assignment ended in 1966, 90 dioceses nationwide were participating. “They started a lot of good programs,” he said. “A lot of fine migrant programs all around the country.”
Sent next to look after parishioners in Nixon, Smiley and Westhoff, he worked to get Father Charles Pugh (later a monsignor) assigned as his associate. “The two of us made a great team there,” he said. “By golly, they started watching us, coming down to see how a rural parish comes alive!”
Holy Family Parish in San Antonio was next to benefit from Msgr. Wagner’s skills at revitalizing parishes, skills acquired during his time with the U.S. Bishops Committee for the Spanish Speaking.
He recalls, on an initial visit to his new parish, finding the church locked and a little boy asking for water at the rectory being gruffly turned away. “Come on kid, let me get you some water,” said the new pastor, and things were on the upswing for the previously deteriorating parish. Here again, he was able to get the right man for the job assigned as his associate, Father (now Msgr.) Lambert Bily.
“He had just finished his degree at Louvain and we needed some religious education so bad there,” remembers Msgr. Wagner. “And he was a jewel!” The first thing the two priests did was dig a hole for the drain for the parish’s new concrete water fountain.
When the pastor of St. Joseph Church downtown was killed in an accident, Msgr. Wagner found himself assigned there. What is now Holy Redeemer Church was then a mission of St. Joseph’s and one of the last Catholic bastions on the East side, following the closure of St. Peter Claver. Here again,
Msgr. Wagner recalls being blessed with a “super associate,” Father Mike DeGerolami.
Then, along with the Priests’ Personnel Board of which he was a member, he approached the new archbishop, Archbishop Patrick F. Flores, about making Holy Redeemer a parish in its own right and installing him as pastor. He got his wish.
During his time there, the Eastside Apostolate was formed, later to become the Eastside Alliance and then part of the Metro Alliance. “I didn’t realize that when I worked with the Civil Rights Movement with a lot of the black leaders, Martin Luther King and others,” said Msgr. Wagner, “that I’d ever use that knowledge and appreciation for the black culture.” And use it he did in his almost 10-year association with Holy Redeemer, the last five as its pastor.
Then one day, sitting comfortably in the church enjoying the choir, he heard an inner voice whispering it was time to leave this church he had grown to love. He resisted at first, but finally spoke with the archbishop about where God might next be calling him to serve.
This turned out to be as pastor at Pleasanton, with its mission of Campbellton. Later, he served as parochial vicar for Pleasanton and Jourdanton, working with now Msgr. Michael Yarbrough. During this time he also looked after Christine, Tilden, Charlotte and Campbellton — an early experiment on serving multiple communities with a limited number of priests. “Worked out tremendously,” he noted.
When Charlotte was designated a parish, he became pastor there, describing these years as “exciting times” and an era of change for the school system. Eighty-six percent of the students were Hispanic but basically being ignored, and Msgr. Wagner became involved in helping Hispanics get elected to the school board and helped initiate a school boycott in Nixon — the first in Texas regarding this issue. Both actions peaceably accomplished the needed results.
After his retirement, he spent two years helping Msgr. Yarbrough at St. Matthew, a parish he notes “never sleeps.” Residing now at Casa de Padres, Msgr. Wagner continues to help out there as needed, as well as saying weekly Mass for the Presentation Sisters.
At Casa de Padres, in a rural setting near Leon Springs, his residence is now an airy little apartment in one of the seven duplexes for which the retired priests pay nominal rent. They get together for a prepared lunch in the main dining room on weekdays and are on their own the rest of the time to pursue hobbies or assist throughout the archdiocese with priestly duties as needed or as they are able.
Their community building includes a chapel, convalescence room, recreation room and workout room, as well as a new water therapy room, with a spa and small pool whose current can be adjusted for resistance swimming.
Outside is a shaded patio and putting green. Wildlife abounds, with around 15 deer showing up daily for feeding, and raccoons, possums, road runners and even a fox providing enjoyable nature watching.
“We can never thank the archdiocese enough for doing this,” says Msgr. Wagner, “for providing the priests of the archdiocese such a magnificent place in which to retire.” |