Fr. Greg
When he graduated from the eighth grade, he decided that he
would like to enter St. Paul Seminary. At St. Colombia, he had been working
with associate Pastor Father Michael O'Conner, a hero in Father Greg's eyes
and this made him want to be a priest also. He wanted to go to Nazareth Hall
for his high school years and then enter the seminary. His father didn't want
him to go, thinking it would be better for Greg to stay home, attend the local
high school, and learn family living. His father eventually changed his mind
and Greg entered Nazareth Hall in the fall of 1956.
During his high school and seminary years he spent his summer vacations working
in construction and as a bricklayer's assistant. He also worked with his father
who was an Enterprise oil burner serviceman for Grudem Bros. Co. installing
and servicing large heating systems. Greg would accompany his father on service
calls to institutions such as schools, hospitals, creameries, and airports all
over Minnesota. Living in Minnesota also gave him the opportunity to earn some
much needed cash by shovelling snow and cutting grass for the elderly in the
neighborhood.
While Greg was attending the seminary in St. Paul, his family moved to New Ulm
so that his father could be more in the center of his service area and spend
a little more time at home. Shortly after the move, the Archdiocese of St. Paul
and Minneapolis split and the New Ulm Diocese was formed. Father Greg was to
be ordained in the Diocese of New Ulm where his parents lived. Bishop Alphose
Schladweiler decided to move the ordinatons from the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
in New Ulm to the Church of St. Mary in Sleep Eye where Fr. Greg was ordained
a priest on February 21, 1960.
Following his ordination, Fr. Greg was assigned to Holy Redeemer Catholic Church
in Marshall, Minnesota where he served as an associate priest and taught religion
and morals in the parish high school. He found that he truly loved the teaching
part of his vocation. In some of his free time he loved to get together with
his friends, Fr. Eugene Hackert and Fr. John Murphy. With whom he often went
hunting in the Marshall area. Don Neisen, a Marshall businessman, also became
a very close friend of Fr. Greg, later accompanying him on his first trip to
San Lucas.
In 1963 Bishop Schladweiler asked Fr. Greg if he would be interested in going
to San Lucas Tolimán as a missionary priest. Despite hesitation from
his mother and father and the fact that he didn't have any training as a missionary
or know any Spanish, he decided that he would take the challenge for a 5 year
assignment. He left New Ulm on October2, 1963 for language study at Georgetown
University in Washington, D.C., and then on to Guatemala for more study in the
city of Huehuetenango. On the Saturday before Palm Sunday in 1964 he entered
the parish of San Lucas Tolimán with Vicar General Msgr. A. J. Berg to
assume his duties as parish priest. With great enthusiasm he began to organize
and plan works of charity.
This was the beginning of many blessings for my community of San Lucas and the
beginning of process for the whole community in which poverty had reigned and
in which we had no saints to perform miracles. But, thanks to God, we now had
an angel among us, one who was to make so many unimaginable and impossible dreams
come true for us all.
Fr. Greg´s decision to work as a missionary has meant separation from
his family. What they thought would be only 5 years has become 36. Many of his
family have been able to visit and have seen that his heart is with the people
of San Lucas and they understand that it would take an awful lot for him to
return to the diocesan life in New Ulm.
He struggled on and the development projects continued to expand along with
the need for more funding. On October 18, 1972 Fr. Schaffer flew to Minnesota
accompanied by Ronaldo Mota and Elías Jacinto, with the purpose of carrying
out an international walk of over 3000 miles from St. Paul across the United
States, through Mexico and all the way to San Lucas, collecting funds for the
first projects to be carried out for San Lucas Tolimán. A student from
the United States, Aloys ¨Butch¨ Mueller Jr., accompanied Fr. Schaffer
on that trip to help with the cooking for the walkers. Finally, they arrived
in San Lucas Tolimán on January 29, 1973. It was a great event for all
the people. The whole town received them with great happiness and full of illusions
of all the work that was going to be accomplished.
Fr. Greg has had the support of many individuals, groups, schools, churches,
and clergy people from the beginning.
After 40 years we are so pride to have this men in San Lucas Toliman
Thank you Greg.
For 41 year the mission are wroking with volunteers and we are so glad that the first volunteers are still working and helping the mission in diferents ways
the first Volunteer in san lucas
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