Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A Mass of Christian Burial for Father Edward Rudemiller (Father “Rudy”) was celebrated March 23 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church. Retired Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk presided. Father Rudemiller, 77, died March 18.

Father Edward Rudemiller (CT file photo)

A Cincinnati native, Father Rudemiller attended St. Leo School and Elder High School. He did his preparatory studies at St. Gregory Seminary and studied theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West. He was ordained on August 15, 1958, at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains by Archbishop Karl J. Alter.

Father Rudemiller’s first assignment, effective June 8, 1959, was to reside at St. Louis Parish in Cincinnati until taking up summer studies in Latin at Ohio State University. In August 1959 Father Rudemiller was appointed assistant pastor at St. Dominic Parish and as a teacher at Elder High School.

He was part of the faculty at Elder until 1980, teaching Latin and religion and serving as athletic director. In June 1967 he was named assistant pastor at St. Leo Parish in Cincinnati. He was appointed assistant pastor at St. Aloysius on-the-Ohio Parish in June 1970, and later served as pastor from 1975 to 1980.

He also served as pastor of Ascension Parish in Kettering from 1980-92, and pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish from 1992 until his retirement in 2005. During his years of ministry also he served as the dean of the St. Lawrence Deanery.
 
A final wish of Father Rudemiller’s was to have one last moment at “The Pit,” Elder’s nationally recognized football stadium. To honor Father Rudemiller’s wishes, his funeral procession stopped at Elder on its way from Our Lady of Lourdes to Old St. Joseph Cemetery.

The procession was greeted by 900 Elder students, all wearing purple and white. The procession paused in front of “The Pit” while students and faculty acknowledged Father Rudemiller’s years of service to the Elder community with the singing of the alma mater and the “Elder Fight Song.”
 
Father Rudemiller is survived by a brother, William.