Diocese of Covington - Messenger at 402 E. 21st Street, Covington, KY 41015 US - Jubilarian finds joy, solace in God's good time

When Father Robert Reinke was 10-years-old his aunt took him to a presentation by a Jesuit priest who showed a film and talked about his ministry in Alaska. The young boy watched in awe and thought, “I want to go to Alaska.”

“I didn’t really think about the priesthood, I just wanted to go to Alaska,” said Father Reinke in a telephone interview June 9.

A year later a missionary priest visited his classroom at St. Anthony School, Bellevue, and talked about the missions.

“I thought, that’s a way I can go to Alaska,” he said.

While it’s taken 50 years, Father Reinke returned in May from a trip to Alaska, part of a retirement gift he received from parishioners at St. Vincent de Paul Church, Newport, where he was pastor from 1986 until he retired in 1997. So indeed it has been his call to the priesthood that fulfilled his lifelong dream. The experience reinforces what he has learned in his 50 years as a priest — it’s the Lord’s work and it’s all done in God’s time.

Father Reinke said he was a sophomore at St. Xavier High School, Cincinnati, when Bishop William Mulloy heard that he was interested in the priesthood. The bishop encouraged him to transfer to Covington Latin School.

“I realized later on that he thought the Jesuits would get me if I stayed there. I wouldn’t have joined the Jesuits on a bet, because I didn’t want to teach school,” laughs Father Reinke.

But that’s not what God wanted. Ironically enough, following his ordination, Dec. 15, 1957, Father Reinke was assigned to teach at Covington Latin School for seven years. From 1965-1969, he was assistant superintendent of Catholic schools in charge of religious education and then chaplain at Thomas More College (1969-1972).

“Then I got into parish life [associate pastor, St. Joseph Church, Crescent Springs, 1972-1977] which is what I wanted to do. The Lord works it out his way. I can’t say it was not a good thing but it wasn’t what I wanted to do,” he said with good humor.

Father Reinke said that for him the most gratifying part of his priesthood is reconciling people who have been away from the Church.

“People who finally came to confession with this thing that had been burdening them for maybe a month, maybe six months, maybe six years, maybe 50 years, being a part of that whole process has always been the most gratifying thing for me,” he said.

A transforming moment for him as a priest was anointing his sick mother. The experience gave him new insight into the graces of the sacrament and into what was going on inside of him.

His initial experience as a young priest with the anointing of the sick was during his time as assistant at the cathedral (1958-1959). The pastor had informed the young Father Reinke that when Booth Hospital in Covington called, drop everything, because while hospital officials were good about calling, the patients were indeed dying. “I had anointed probably 25 people in that one year and every one of them died,” Father Reinke remembers. Thus, he began to make an association between the sacrament and the immediate fate of the patients.

Then, a few years later, his mother was gravely ill. “She was at the Spears Hospital, Dayton. She literally had turned her face to the wall … when guests visited she would not turn around and talk to them, she would talk to them facing the wall. After a week my sister asked if mom should be anointed and if I felt I couldn’t do it she would call the parish priest. I said I’d do it. If it had been anyone else I would have done it a week before.

“After the anointing, visitors told me that then she turned around. She returned home from the hospital and lived another four or five years. I asked myself the question, why? In my head I knew the sacrament was a sacrament for the sick and I wondered why I was so reluctant to do it?”

Father Reinke has come to the understanding that through his mother, the Lord was teaching his heart what he knew in his head about the sacrament. “The Lord truly is amazing in teaching us.”

Father Reinke’s advice to new priests is to never lose sight that it’s the Lord’s work. “It’s not our work and for that reason we need to keep in touch with the Lord through our prayer.”

“For 50 years Father Reinke has served in a number of pastoral, educational and administrative ministries in the Diocese of Covington,” Bishop Roger Foys said. “He continues, even though officially retired from administrative duties, to minister to the parishioners of Sts. Boniface and James Parish, Ludlow. His ministry is marked by his gentle and caring manner, his compassionate and truly heartfelt concern for those he serves and a genuine spirit of cooperation and respect.

“Father Reinke has a true love for the poor and disenfranchised and models the Lord in this regard. I give thanks to God for his 50 years of ministry and pray that God gives him many more years in his service,” Bishop Foys said.

David Schroeder, director for Kenton County Public Library and life-long member of Sts. Boniface and James Parish, Ludlow, speaks fondly of his childhood pastor (1979-1983) and now sacramental minister (2003-present).

“What I learned most from him is a spirit of generosity. It’s a running joke — don’t give him money as a gift because he will give it away. He’s always been very involved with the St. Vincent de Paul Society. That’s the kind of person he is — he sees a need and does his best to fill it. I think that’s inspired many people in the parish, including myself, to look beyond yourself and look at the needs of other people … (H)e was interested in working with the people in the parish. That was his goal and he’s done a great job at it … and is enormously respected,” Mr. Schroeder said.

Deacon James Auton, parish life collaborator at Sts. Boniface and James Parish for the last five years this July, agrees. “He’s a pleasure to work with. Those that know him know him as a very good priest. For most of us in my generation he epitomizes what a priest is. I thank him for not only his 50 years as a priest but in particular for his times here at Sts. Boniface and James Parish. We appreciate everything he does realizing that without him, and without other retired priests, there are parishes that may not be in existence today.”

For his golden jubilee the people of Sts. Boniface and James Parish collected money for a trip to Rome, where last December Father Reinke attended his 50th class reunion at North American College. Also in December, his actual ordination month, the parish hosted a jubilee celebration for him. Another celebration was held in June at St. Augustine Church, Covington, where Father Reinke is currently in residence.

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