Wednesday, November 3, 2010

A Mass of Christian Burial for Franciscan Father Aquinas Schneider was celebrated Nov. 1 at St. Mary Church in Bloomington, Ill. Father Schneider, 83, a member of the Cincinnati-based Province of St. John the Baptist, died Oct. 27 after a brief illness.

A native of Louisville, Father Schneider was one of four siblings to become Franciscan priests in the province. He attended St. Francis High School Seminary in Cincinnati and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree at Duns Scotus College in Southfield, Mich. Father Schneider studied theology at Holy Family Theologate in Oldenburg, Ind., where he was ordained in 1954.

He spent the first seven years of his priesthood in parish ministry in New Mexico. From 1961-82, Father Schneider lived and worked in Cincinnati, serving in Franciscan administration as provincial secretary, in the vocation office and as secular Franciscan director. Father Schneider spent 37 years in hospital and nursing home chaplaincy. He served as director of pastoral care at St. Francis Hospital Cincinnati (now Mercy Western Hills) from 1969-1982, and returned to minister as a chaplain from 1996-2008. He also served in Louisville and New Albany, Ind.

Father Schneider retired to Sacred Heart Parish in Peoria, Ill, in 2008, and remained active in sacramental ministry. Last year he joined his brother, Franciscan Father Ric Schneider, longtime pastor of St. Mary Parish, where he was active in the day-to-day life of the parish until his illness.
 
Father Schneider is survived by four sisters, Marcella Schneider, Cecilia Sauter, Jeanette Gravette and Dorothy Gaffney, and four brothers, Franciscan Fathers Bernardin and Ric Schneider, Donald and Norbert. Interment was in St. Joseph Cemetery in Bloomington.