Fr. Gerard Senecal (1929-2015)

John Senecal enrolled at Maur Hill in 1943 as the first of seven Senecal children from Atwood, Kan., who would attend school in Atchison.  Studying mathematics at St. Benedict’s College, he entered the novitiate here in 1947, receiving the name Gerard.  Following ordination in 1954 and one year as prefect at St. Benedict’s, Fr. Gerard completed degrees in physics at Michigan and Kansas State Universities.  He would do further studies in this field at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, and the Atomic Energy Commission in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Fr. Gerard served on the Merger Planning Committee for St. Benedict’s and Mount St. Scholastica Colleges, and would become the first president of Benedictine College in 1972.  Stepping down after 15 years as Benedictine College president in 1987, Fr. Gerard worked at Maur Hill and in the Abbey Advancement Office.  He began service in the parishes here in Atchison in 1994, first at St. Joseph’s and St. Patrick’s, then St. Benedict’s and Sacred Heart.  He retired from pastoral work in 2014 from Immaculate Conception Parish, St. Marys, Kan.

Father Gerard was in constant motion, never lacking the will or the energy.  He was known to climb a step ladder in full Mass vestments, take a picture of a family gathered for the baptism of a child, rush to the rectory to print multiple copies, and gift the family with photos in minutes.

His life was like that, as he moved from task to task, serving people with little delay, with confidence, at some risk, and with studied balance.

His crowning achievement was leading a capital campaign for an addition to the Atchison Catholic upper school at Second and Division Streets following a fire that destroyed the lower school located on the Maur Hill campus.  The Gymnasium at St. Benedict School bears his name.

Father Gerard loved to visit with people, in person and in writing, in individual settings and in formal gatherings. He gathered with families “on the church steps” after Mass and would invite himself into their homes for a quick visit. Father Gerard celebrated 65 years as a monk and 60 as a priest the summer before his death.