Josephinum honors priest, lay supporter with awards

The Good Shepherd Dinner, held at the Pontifical College Josephinum on April 17, featured a keynote address from Bishop Earl Fernandes and presentation of two of the highest honors bestowed by the Josephinum.

Father Jeffrey Rimelspach, pastor at Columbus St. Margaret of Cortona Church, received the Good Shepherd Award. 

The award is presented to a member of the clergy who exemplifies in his life and ministry the qualities of a good shepherd. It is the highest honor bestowed by the Josephinum upon a member of the clergy.

Ginger West, a member of the Serra Club of North Columbus and Friends of the Josephinum board, received the Pope Leo XIII Award. It recognizes the recipient’s support of priestly vocations and the Josephinum, and it is one of the two highest honors bestowed by the college.

The award is named in honor of the pope who granted pontifical status to the Josephinum in 1892, making it the only pontifical seminary outside of Italy.

The evening began with a welcome from the dinner host couple, Dr. Rama and Anne Mallampalli.

“What a privilege to be a part of the mission at the Josephinum in the formation of holy, generous adaptable and resilient priests for the 21st century and beyond,” Anne said. “Holy. Generous. Adaptable. Resilient. This is our call as well. All of us are called to build up the priesthood.”

The Mallampallis encouraged support for vocations.

“This broken world needs priests who can bring others to Christ – to save souls,” she said. “It needs the Eucharist. It needs all of us to be saints.”

The Josephinum Choir & Assembly sang the Sancte Joseph (St. Joseph) prayer, and the choir performed the hymn “Come, Christians, Join to Sing.”

In his keynote address, Bishop Fernandes reflected on Jesus exhorting the Apostles in the Gospel of John to lay down their lives for the sake of love. (John 15:12-13)

“Jesus says come as one who serves,” he said.

Bishop Fernandes said only Christ is the Good Shepherd, but the priesthood calls men to imitate Christ as a shepherd, which means being “willing to sacrifice yourself before you sacrifice others.”

Priests are called to feed the sheep with the Body and Blood of Christ, he said. Feeding the Lord’s sheep with the Holy Eucharist is a priest’s calling.

When Christ asks St. Peter if he loves Him and tells the Apostle to feed His sheep, the bishop said that Christ is asking, “Do you love Me more than the other Apostles, more than the world?”

“We want to have vocations on our own terms,” he said. 

However, “God calls us to follow Him, to be His disciple” and “feeding the sheep proceeds from that.”

The bishop said the Josephinum fosters friendships with the Lord so men can say, “‘Yes, Lord, I am your friend, and I will tend to the brokenhearted.’

“This institution says, with the Lord, we will give You shepherds – shepherds of Your own heart.”

The Josephinum honored Father Rimelspach for exemplifying the qualities of a good shepherd who has a heart unto the Lord’s. 

“He clearly has the heart of a pastor,” said Father Steven Beseau, rector and president of the Josephinum, who presented Father Rimelspach with the award. “He is gentle, he is faithful, conscientious of his duties and methodical in what he does.”

Father Rimelspach is a 1979 graduate of the Josephinum. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1985 and has served as pastor of St. Margaret of Cortona since 2009.

Father Rimelspach served three terms on the Josephinum’s Board of Trustees and as chaplain for the Serra Club of North Columbus.

“I aspire continually to live the high ideals I learned and witnessed while a student here,” he said of the Josephinum. “In my 37 years of priesthood, my greatest joy is being a pastor. I have served as pastor of three different churches.

“The common thread in all three, as all priests know, is the call to the service of the people of God.”

Father Rimelspach said he was attracted to the priesthood through the witness of his uncle, Msgr. Ed Kessler, who was a priest in the Diocese of Columbus for more than 40 years.

Father Rimelspach said he “had the benefit of being taught and formed by many of the ‘lifers,’ those who spent their entire lives here at the Josephinum from eighth grade till death, such as Msgr. Fick and Msgr. Durst, who are buried out in these hallowed grounds.”

“As we follow in the example of Msgr. Joseph Jessing, (founder of the Josephinum,) I pray that we may, in our own way, always strive to follow and imitate Jesus Christ, who is the Good Shepherd,” he said.

Father Beseau presented the Pope Leo XIII award to West, who he said was a “woman of great faith, a staunch defender of Catholic teaching and a defender of the truth.”

“She works hard and prays even harder,” Father Beseau said.

West is a parishioner at Columbus St. Patrick Church and has traveled to a dozen cities across the country to attend ordinations. 

“My whole life has been surrounded by the priests,” she said.

West’s father was a founding member of the Serra Club in Columbus and Serra International, a lay apostolate dedicated to fostering vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life. 

She said she joined the Serra Club as soon as women were permitted to be members, and she developed lifelong friendships with priests from their days in the seminary.

“It has been a joy to travel the country for ordinations,” she said.

West recalled encountering priests across the world that she knew from the Josephinum. 

She ran into a priest she knew from the seminary while in Rome for New Year’s Day 2013 and another priest while visiting a small town in Tennessee, and such occasions are what she “loves about being Catholic.”

“It happens all the time,” she said of her encounters.

West said she often writes her name as ‘Ginger West, COG,’ and people ask, ‘What degree is that?’

“It stands for ‘Child of God,’” she said, “And I write it on my checks, too. It’s a good conversation starter because we all are (children of God).”

West attributed to her parents, Patrick and Virginia Hinterschied West, the strong Catholic faith, witness and passion for vocations and for many visits to the Josephinum growing up.

She encouraged the audience to “always be open to the Lord” and “don’t shut Him out.”

“He loves us so much,” she said. “If you haven’t tried Him, give Him a chance.”

After the award presentations, there was a live auction for a dinner with Bishop Fernandes at the Chancery.

Father Beseau offered final remarks, and the evening concluded with the Josephinum Choir & Assembly singing the Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) hymn to the Blessed Mother.