A funeral Mass for Father Peter Voelker, CSsR, was celebrated July 17 at St. Clement Redemptorist Mission Community Chapel in Barnhart. Father Peter died July 5 at age 89 shortly after he was hospitalized in St. Louis. A Redemptorist missionary priest for more than six decades, Father Peter ministered to generations of Hispanic people, particularly in the South.
Peter Howley was born to Gerald and Margaret Voelker on Oct. 9, 1935, in Fountain City, Wisconsin. He was 7 years old when the family moved to San Antonio, Texas, and joined St. Gerard Church. Peter learned Spanish in third grade and soon became fluent in the language.
He entered the Redemptorist formation program at St. Joseph Preparatory College in Kirkwood. He completed novitiate at Mount St. Clement College in De Soto and professed temporary vows on Aug. 2, 1956. He proceeded to Immaculate Conception Seminary in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, where he and other seminarians participated in Father Jimmy O’Connell’s summer ministry to Mexican migrant workers harvesting crops from South Texas to Wisconsin. He professed perpetual vows on Sept. 2, 1959, and was ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 1961.
After finishing Tirocinium at St. Alphonsus Ligouri “Rock” Parish in St. Louis in 1963, Father Peter completed graduate studies in history and social studies in preparation for his first assignment as a faculty member of Holy Redeemer Seminary in Lacombe, Louisiana. Father Peter worked to break down ongoing racial tensions and divisions by reaching out to Black families in the area, and he arranged for the seminarians to interact with students from local Black schools.
Twelve years later, Father Peter was appointed assistant pastor at St. Mary’s of the Assumption/St. Alphonsus Parish in New Orleans, a position he held until 1981. In addition to parish ministry to Spanish-speaking immigrants and Black Catholics, he helped form Christian community prayer groups throughout the nearby neighborhoods. He received a “Certificate of Appreciation” for his work from Ernest Nathan Morial, the first Black mayor of New Orleans.
Father Peter was appointed pastor and superior of the local community at Holy Redeemer Parish in Odessa, Texas, in 1981. After five years, he joined the Spanish Mission Team as an itinerant bilingual preacher. He enjoyed mission preaching so much that he continued to serve on the preaching team even after he was appointed pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in El Paso, Texas, in 1987. During the next six years, he formed small Christian communities within the parish and the outlying “colonias,” areas where people bought vacant lots in the desert on which to build homes, despite the lack of water or electricity. These small Christian communities flourished.
Father Peter was assigned to serve Hispanic immigrants at Holy Ghost Parish in Houston in 1993. He and a Carmelite sister teamed up and attended to their needs through the Catholic Charismatic Movement. During the next 30 years, they offered countless retreats for adults, youth and adolescents and a weekly Bible study program. After semi-retirement at age 70, Father Peter continued to celebrate Spanish Masses at nearby parishes.
Health issues with advancing age prompted Father Peter’s move to the St. Clement Redemptorist Mission Community in Barnhart in 2023. He continued to serve the local Hispanic community, helping out with Spanish Masses at nearby Holy Family Church in Arnold up until the time of his unexpected death.
Interment was in Ligouri Cemetery.
