Iconic Dallas Pastor To Be Laid To Rest Wednesday
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The funeral Mass for Monsignor Thomas W. Weinzapfel will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 6 at St. Pius X Catholic Church at 3030 Gus Thomasson Road in Dallas.
Interment will follow in the Priests' Circle at Calvary Hill Cemetery.Bishop Kevin J. Farrell will preside as the main celebrant. Msgr. Henry Petter, pastor of St. Ann Parish in Coppell, will deliver the homily.
Monsignor Weinzapfel died January 1 of injuries suffered in a fall on Christmas Day and complications following surgery, according to a news release from the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.
He was 94.
Two days earlier, on Dec. 23, he had been honored on the 70th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood with an overflow Mass and reception at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Dallas where he had served as pastor for more than 40 years before his retirement in December 1996. He continued to assist in the diocese and had celebrated Mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Rowlett the weekend before his accident.
According to Bishop Kevin Farrell, "While we mourn the loss of this good and faithful priest, we rejoice in a lifetime of service and love that touched and changed the lives of thousands. He forged a vibrant parish from the cotton patches of Far East Dallas that spawned numerous daughter parishes and fostered many vocations to the priesthood, the diaconate and religious life." The vibrant parish he pastored resulted in a half a dozen daughter congregations. He was also instrumental in the creation of Bishop Lynch High School.
Born Aug. 1, 1921 in Scotland, TX, Monsignor Weinzapfel grew up in Muenster where his family moved when he was a small child. He entered St. John Seminary in San Antonio in 1939 and was ordained a priest on Dec. 23, 1945 by Bishop Joseph Patrick Lynch.
Following his ordination, he served as an assistant priest at Sacred Heart Church in Texarkana and St. Edward Church in Dallas before being named pastor of St. John Parish in Valley View. In May 1956 he was named pastor of St. Pius X Parish.
Monsignor Weinzapfel is survived by two sisters, Juanita Bright of Medford, OR and Mary Birden of Denton and Janie Weinzapfel and brother Henry Weinzapfel, both of Muenster as well as 29 nieces and nephews and many great nieces and nephews.
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