Father Riepe to retire

After serving the Johns Hopkins Catholic Community for 12 years, Father Charles K. Riepe will retire at the end of the 2001-2002 academic year. He officially announced his retirement to University Chaplain Sharon Kugler and students in early March.

"He let me know at the beginning of March, and the students found out about a day or so later. I think this was a position he would view for the end of his religious career," Kugler said.

"I have been thinking about it for about a year. I will be 69 years old in December, and I did not want to leave during the school year," Riepe said. His last duty at Hopkins will be leading the Baccalaureate mass in May.

As of yesterday, Riepe has been a priest for 42 years. He became the Hopkins Catholic Campus minister and reestablished the Catholic chaplaincy in 1990. Before that, he held the position of headmaster at a school in Boston.

"When I came here, the Archbishop had withdrawn the chaplaincy at Johns Hopkins. The new Archbishop asked me to restore it," Riepe said.

Kugler believes that Riepe has been a good influence on the campus and students.

"I think that Father Riepe has been a good constant presence. He will especially be remembered for being on the sidelines of many football and lacrosse games," Kugler said. "His Catholic students will remember his farm - he holds a retreat at his farm in Hartford County every semester. He made sure that students have a sense of Catholic identity and who they are as a person of faith on this campus."

Riepe's main responsibility has been to lead the student-run Catholic Community. Among other things, he leads mass on Sundays at the Interfaith Center and helps fundraise for the Catholic Community, though his strongest calling has stemmed from confession, according to Kugler.

"I observed him to be a very compassionate confessor and that is wonderful in a priest. I have a positive impression of him and high hopes for the Catholic Community and whatever happens next for them," Kugler said.

"Everyone is going to miss him because he really has been a wonderful priest. He has been open to everyone and always available. I think he has done a really great job," said junior Chris Celano, vice-president of the Catholic Community. "While we are really sad, everyone is looking forward to the future."

The Catholic Community is currently the largest religious community on campus. Approximately 1,000 undergraduates are registered as Catholic at the Interfaith Center (IFC), roughly 27 percent of all undergraduates, Kugler said.

Riepe also leads the football and lacrosse teams in prayer and is the first campus minister to do so.

"I am certainly the only clergyman in the history of Hopkins who has led prayer with the lacrosse and football teams. I make it very clear to them that I am not ministering to them as a Catholic chaplain but as a Johns Hopkins chaplain," Riepe said. "I hear confessions everywhere, [and] I held confessions in the Athletic Center earlier this year for the lacrosse players."

After Commencement, Riepe will retire to his farm in Hartford County. He will still, however, maintain his other roles at other institutions.

"I have other responsibilities besides Hopkins. I am on the board of the Hartford Day School, a consultant for the Reading Network for the Blind, on the board of Partners in Excellence that raises money for inner-city schools and a consultant on Liturgical matters for Cardinal Keeler," Riepe said. "They are enough to keep me satisfied after retirement."

Despite these duties, Riepe looks forward to a life of freedom and relaxation.

"My greatest misgiving is that I will miss the students terribly, [but] I am really looking forward to the freedom that comes with retirement," Riepe said.

Kugler and the Archdiocese of Baltimore held a meeting last week to begin the process of selecting a new Catholic campus minister. The Archdiocese will conduct a search lasting two or three months and "typically, new placements happen around July," Kugler said. "Priests are few and far between. We have been blessed to have one here, and we hope to have another."

"The Archdiocese decides it, [and] ultimately Cardinal William Keeler makes the final decision," Riepe said. "I certainly hope for another priest. That is certainly my recommendation to the Cardinal.