A funeral Mass for Marianist Father Gerald Hammel was to be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, in Cure of Ars chapel at St. John Vianney High School, 1311 S. Kirkwood Road in Kirkwood.
A priest of the Faustino Community in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa, Father Gerry, as he was known, died July 10 in Lusaka at age 79, with 59 years of religious profession.
Born in St. Louis, he attended Annunciation School in Webster Groves and Coyle High School in Kirkwood. He professed first vows in Galesville, Wisconsin, in 1961 and perpetual vows in 1965 in St. Louis. During his scholasticate years, he studied at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. In 1975, he entered the seminary at St. Basil’s College in Toronto, Canada. He was ordained in 1978 at St. Peter Church in Kirkwood.
Father Gerry was a pastor, missionary chaplain, spiritual director, campus minister, retreat master and cook. In 1964, then-Brother Gerry was asked to join the staff at Maryhurst in Kirkwood, Missouri where he learned how to cook under the guidance of Brother Leo Slay. Brother Gerry continued in this ministry for the next 15 years, cooking for the Marianist communities at different houses of formation. In the early 1970s, he began to discern a vocation to the priesthood — overcoming a natural shyness to ultimately embrace the call to the priestly ministry.
Following ordination, he ministered in retreat work at Galesville for a year before heading to India and Nepal for several years to help the Society of Mary launch a missionary presence there. He returned to St. Louis in 1982, serving first on the parish staff at Our Lady of the Pillar and later as campus minister and teacher at Chaminade Preparatory High School.
Father Gerry joined the province’s formation team in San Antonio, where he served while also assisting at a local parish. He served as pastor of a parish in Helotes, Texas, for 17 years. Returning to St. Louis in 2006 for a sabbatical year, he became pastor at Our Lady of the Pillar. In 2012, he accepted the call to serve as chaplain at Matero Boys Secondary School in Lusaka, Zambia. In late 2016, he joined the Aspirancy House for the Eastern Africa Region.
Survivors include a sister, Deborah Fiock. Burial was to be in the Maryhurst Cemetery on the grounds of Vianney.
