St. Maurice parishioners honor organist for 40 years of ministry

Lifetime St. Maurice parishioner Mark Wirth of Napoleon has played the organ at Masses for 40 years. He praises the parishioners for singing joyfully during liturgies in their historic church. (Submitted photo)

By Mary Ann Garber

NAPOLEON—The sound of music—beautiful organ music—fills historic St. Maurice Church during Masses as the parishioners enthusiastically sing hymns praising God.

At the organ is lifetime parishioner Mark Wirth, who started playing for Masses as a fifth-grade student 40 years ago.

“Music is a part of who I am,” Wirth explained with a smile during a recent interview. “It’s just me being me.”

He even played the organ before his wedding liturgy at St. Joseph Church in nearby St. Leon 26 years ago then left the reception briefly with his new wife, Roseann, to play for the Saturday evening Mass at St. Maurice Church before they went on their honeymoon in Hawaii.

“I always said, ‘I’m going to play for my own wedding,’ ” Wirth recalled, “and I did.”

“Mark rarely takes a weekend off, and that’s truly dedication,” Franciscan Sister Shirley Gerth, parish life coordinator, said about St. Maurice’s longtime music minister, who arranges his work schedule as a truck driver so he can play for weddings and funerals.

Wirth even played the organ for the funeral Masses of his grandmother in 1977, his mother in 1982 and his father in 1986 as a gift of love for them.

“I did get a little choked up,” he recalled, “when I played ‘How Great Thou Art.’ ”

For four decades, Wirth has faithfully played the organ for Masses. Roseann and their three children—Marcus, Eric and Nicole, now college students—sit together in a pew.

On Nov. 13, St. Maurice parishioners honored their beloved organist, who began receiving a small stipend in recent years, with a “Mark Wirth Appreciation Day” pitch-in dinner after the Mass.

The celebration was a surprise to Wirth, who played the introductory hymn before Sister Shirley walked to the ambo and said, “Mark, there is no way that we will allow you to work today.”

Then Wirth was escorted to a front pew to sit with his family during the liturgy.

St. Maurice parishioners are known for their joyful singing during Masses, and Sister Shirley attributes their enthusiastic participation to Wirth’s expert organ accompaniment.

Parishioners consider themselves as one big family, she said, and love their church, which was built in 1856.

Lifetime parishioner and parish bookkeeper Jenny Hardesty said Wirth played for her nuptial Mass in 1974 when he was a teenager.

“He did an awesome job,” Hardesty recalled. “He was a pro even back then. He wasn’t nervous at all. … Mark has much musical talent.”

As a youth, Wirth and several other teenagers would occasionally play guitars during Mass, but his great love—in addition to his wife and children—is the organ.

“Mark is very generous with his time, spending many hours selecting the music, practicing and organizing the other musicians,” Hardesty said, especially last fall as the parish prepared for the new Mass translation that began to be used in Advent.

He encourages the younger parishioners to share their musical abilities, she said, and practices with the seventh-grade students when they learn to serve as cantors at Masses.

Wirth also serves on the parish youth committee, manages the junior high basketball and softball teams, and helps Abby Wagner, a teenage parishioner who now plays the organ for some Masses.

The longtime Cincinnati Bengals fan often wears the football team’s colors of orange and black to church on game days.

“Mark is a friend to all,” Hardesty said. “He always has a funny story to share even if he’s having a bad day. … He’s always ready to share a laugh.

“Many visitors complement our parishioners on our singing during Mass,” she said. “Mark makes it easy to follow with the hymns, and he always chooses lively and appropriate music.”

Well, almost always, Hardesty said with a laugh.

When the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl in 2010, Wirth played “When the Saints Go Marching In” at the start of Mass until Father Robert Hankee, their former pastor, gave him a stern look, which delighted the parishioners.

“Mark was put on this Earth to make people happy by sharing his time and talents,” Hardesty said. “His wonderful music and his sense of humor always make people smile.”

Longtime parish secretary Susan Schutte appreciates Wirth’s devotion to the parish and its current 188 households during almost every weekend for 40 years.

“It’s a fun-loving parish,” Schutte said. “We’re a very

close-knit family. We do a lot of things together as a parish family.”

Wirth recently injured his knee, but that didn’t stop him from playing the organ for Masses.

His love for music began when he was in the second grade after his grandmother encouraged him to learn how to play on a small chord organ. He quickly picked up the skills needed to create beautiful sounds on the church’s old pipe organ.

“I took a few lessons,” Wirth said. “Mostly, I just get lucky. I used to play the guitar for a few years too. … Father Mike Djbasz, our priest here back in the 70s, told Joanie Peetz and me when I was in the fifth grade that we were going to play at Masses. I said, ‘I can’t do that.’ He said, ‘You did it now, didn’t you? You can do it again on Sunday.’ ‘No’ wasn’t an option so I’ve been doing it ever since.”

He recalls feeling scared when the late Archbishop George J. Biskup celebrated the sacrament of confirmation at St. Maurice Church in about 1972.

“I was a nervous wreck then,” Wirth said. “I was maybe 13 or 14, but everything went fine.”

Parishioners are thankful for his gifts of time and talent, and Wirth is grateful for his friendships with so many nice people.

“We’re always together,” he said, “and everybody is happy and cheerful.”

Sister Shirley celebrated her golden jubilee Mass as an Oldenburg Franciscan last summer at St. Maurice Church.

“I had folks here from I don’t know how many parishes,” she recalled, “and the big thing they said was how well the people sang. Mark played for that Mass. Mark and his music really bring the parish together.”

Wirth is modest about his musical gift, and admits that he “can’t sing a lick.”

But he doesn’t need to sing, he said, because the parishioners harmonize together beautifully.

“We don’t have a parish choir here,” Wirth said. “Our choir is the entire parish because everybody sings here. On Sundays, it’s really alive. I’m thankful that everybody comes together the way they do and that the parish keeps growing.” †