Parishioners flocked to Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church this past Sunday to help celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Ordination to the Priesthood of Father Stephen Ripplinger.
“I’m very happy,” said Ripplinger, 89. “It’s my diamond jubilee. I still feel I’m worth something. The people are very nice here. In the summertime, spring and fall we have our church full with mostly visitors. Some Sundays they’re from everywhere, from Vancouver to the Maritimes. Elbow is a central place that people visit. They really draw people here because of what’s available with recreation and so on.”
Ripplinger said he was receiving calls all the past week leading up to the celebration mass and lunch later at the Elbow Community Centre on Sunday. He said this is really special for someone who actually retired 17 years ago.
“Elbow is my retirement,” he said, noting he served as priest at Davidson’s Sacred Heart Parish for eight years prior to Holy Redeemer. “I have a cottage here at the lake and they claimed me at Elbow. I’m supposed to be retired, but I’m still saying mass every Sunday at Elbow.”
The Kendal, Saskatchewan, native was ordained a priest on May 30, 1953, after spending seven years in the seminary first studying philosophy for three years in Edmonton before moving on to four years of theology study in Regina. His first parish was a 15-year stay in Ceylon, Sask. at Little Flower Church.
Ripplinger said he decided to join the priesthood after serving in the ordinance core during the Second World War with his brother Joseph.
“At that time, brothers could claim each other,” he said. “I was in the infantry in Shilo and he claimed me to Montreal. We worked at the dockyards in Montreal loading box cars and ships with Chevy and Ford motors and axles for our men in Russia and the desert.”
To read more please see the June 3 print edition of The Davidson Leader.