Mechernich/Blankenheim –Quietly, Father Gregor Stepkes (94) celebrated his 70th anniversary of ordination in the "Haus Effatta" retirement home of the Communio in Christo in Blankenheim on Tuesday. He told of his childhood and youth in a thoroughly Catholic parental home - and also of the guilt and inadequacy that such a long life as a pastor inevitably entailed.

Stepkes, who was born in Krefeld, was ordained to the priesthood on 28 February 1953 in Aachen Cathedral by Bishop Johannes Joseph van der Velden along with 22 other deacons. Stepkes, one of whose five siblings also became a priest and the youngest brother Johannes a permanent deacon, is the last of the ordination cohort still alive.

Among others, Father Jaison Thazhathil, the Superior General of the Ordo Communionis in Christo from Mechernich, his deputy, the deacon Manfred Lang from Mechernich, and spiritual director Father Rudolf Ammann ISch from Blankenheim visited him on the occasion of his jubilee.

Gregor Stepkes had been able to celebrate his Iron and Diamond Jubilee as a priest in the parish church of Alendorf with, among others, the Auxiliary Bishops of Aachen, Karl Reger and Dr Johannes Bündgens, and his friend Superior General Karl-Heinz Haus. Reger, who now lives in a retirement home in Gemünd, was chaplain to Father Stepkes in Viersen at the time.

"Ways of God mysterious"

"The ways of God are a mystery to men": With this quotation, Superior General Jaison Thatzathil honoured the quoter himself, Rev. Gregor Stepkes, when he delivered the festive sermon at the Iron Jubilee of Consecration five years ago: "We are very happy and we are all very proud of you that you have lasted this long and that today we thank God that He has given us such a good shepherd."

Rev Gregor Stepkes told the visitors to Communio in Christo on his consecration day about childhood and the affection among the brothers and sisters. His sister Maria Fidelis also lived in the Communio's "Effatta House" until recently.

A life totally consecrated to God is not a state that can be reached in a moment. Faith is a process. Just as gold is purified in the fire, so the believer is tested in earthly life. The light that Pastor Stepkes still radiates in his 95th year is his deep faith in Christ, who called him to his ministry, Thazhathil said.

Pastor Gregor Stepkes got to know Mother Marie Therese, the foundress of Communio in Christo, and her extraordinary charism already in the 1970s. As a consequence, he decided in 2008 to go to the "Effata" house in Blankenheim, which was founded by the Mother: "There I have the time to study the writings of the mystic Mother Marie Therese more deeply, because in her writings God's voice speaks to us."

Father deposed by Nazis

Stepkes' call to the priesthood had reached him during the Nazi era. His father Johannes was deposed as mayor of the city of Kleve by the National Socialists because he did not want to become a member of the NSDAP. There followed years of privation, during which a random acquaintance, a cook, and a lawyer friend of his father's saved the family from economic ruin.

"I wanted to have a job that would last even if they stripped me naked and chased me into the gas oven," Pastor Stepkes said in an interview with the ProfiPress agency: "During the Nazi era, I learned to trust God from my parents. For us, faith did not come from outside, but was an expression of a deep attitude to life."

He said he became a priest out of his experiences during the Nazi era. And so Gregor Stepkes attended the seminary in Aachen and was ordained a priest in 1953. He came to Viersen as a chaplain. Later he took up his second post as chaplain in Rheydt in the Sacred Heart parish.

There, Father Stepkes became, among other things, pastor of the Christian Workers' Youth (CAJ) for six years until 1968. Father Jaison: "Then he went to Sankt Josef as pastor for 25 years and additionally to Viersen as dean. In 1993 he left everything and came to the promised land - the Eifel."

"Voice of God speaks to us"

For his ordination to the priesthood on 28 February 1953, Gregor Stepkes chose a verse from the Secret Revelation: "And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come; and whosoever heareth, say, Come: and whosoever thirsteth, come. And whosoever will, receive living water freely."

On 23 February 1971 Gregor Stepkes made the Perpetual Promise in the priestly community Unio Jesus Caritas and on 1 September 1977 in Mechernich-Holzheim he placed the promise in the hands of Mother Marie Therese. Gregor Stepkes believes in her extraordinary founding charism - until today: "In her writings the voice of God speaks to us."

pp/Agentur ProfiPress