FRIDAY'S FAMOUS - Bishop Paul Waldschmidt



Bishop Paul Edward Waldschmidt
(1920-1994)

 Paul Edward Waldschmidt was born on January 7, 1920 in Vanderburgh, Indiana, the only child of Edward Benjamin Waldschmidt (1885-1964) and Olga Marie Moers (1893-1933). He is descended from Margaret Weinschenk (1815-UNK) and Joseph Andrew Witt (1810-1860), a native of Bavaria. Margaret (my 3rd great-grand-aunt) was an older sister of my 3rd-great-Grandmother Apollonia Weinschenk Horst. Margaret & Joseph Witt's oldest child, Theodore Witt (1837-1921) was the Bishop's great-grandfather, and the cousin of my great-great-grandfather Charles F. Horst. His paternal grandmother was Catherine "Kate" Witt (1863-1937), the oldest child of Theodore Witt and his wife Juliana Adler (1831-1900). Kate and my great-grandmother Pearl Horst Flemming were second cousins. [All this makes the Bishop my 4th cousin once removed.]

The Bishop died October 20, 1994 in Portland, Oregon. His Obituary gives some of the highlights of a life well spent:

"Roman Catholic Bishop Paul Waldschmidt, former president of the University of Portland and a longtime advocate of civil rights, has died. He was 74.

Bishop Waldschmidt died Thursday in St. Vincent Hospital and Medical Center, a week after suffering a heart attack in the hospital.

Bishop Waldschmidt, who retired in 1990, had been in poor health in recent years, suffering from diabetes and other ailments.

He became president of the University of Portland in 1962. When he left 16 years later, enrollment had nearly tripled, to more than 2,500.

"The bishop was, without a doubt, the most significant and accomplished president in the history of the University of Portland," said the Rev. David Tyson, the current president.

In the 1960s, Bishop Waldschmidt marched for civil rights. He was the driving force behind the Greater Portland Council of Churches, which became Ecumenical Ministries, believed the largest local interfaith group in the nation.

He worked with the Jewish community years before the Vatican officially encouraged such efforts.

Pope Paul VI appointed Bishop Waldschmidt auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in 1978. The archdiocese covers western Oregon and has 250,000 members.

With the resources of the church, Bishop Waldschmidt provided housing, jobs and language training for 10,000 refugees of various faiths, most of them from Southeast Asia.

"He was one of the greatest defenders of human civil rights of any churchman I've known," said Rodney Page, executive director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.

The National Conference of Christians and Jews honored Bishop Waldschmidt with its human-relations award in 1979. In 1984, he was named First Citizen of Portland.

Bishop Waldschmidt was born in Evansville, Ind. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1942 and was ordained in 1946.

Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Interment will be at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Notre Dame."



Waldschmidt Hall
University of Portland

 Waldschmidt Hall
Waldschmidt Hall (originally West Hall) is an academic building at the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon, United States. Constructed in 1891 as West Hall, the building was originally part of the now defunct Portland University located in North Portland overlooking the Willamette River. The Romanesque style structure built of brick and stone stands five stories tall. The hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and renovated in 1992, the same year it took the current name. Waldschmidt, the oldest building on campus, now houses the school’s administration offices and some classrooms. (from Wikipedia)