Eric Mueller joins ancestors in priesthood

By Jim Metcalfe, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Tuesday, June 2, 2009 (9 months, 2 weeks ago)
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The Landeck St. John the Baptist Catholic Church parish celebrated the First Mass presided over by native son Rev. Eric Mueller Sunday and held a gathering in the Church basement afterward. Celebrating with Rev. Mueller (third from right) are his family: his sister Heidi (Zimmer), left, his brother Dave, his father and mother, Ralph and Gerry, and his brother Dan.LANDECK — There have been three Rev. Muellers from Landeck.
Eric Mueller became the fourth as the Landeck native (son of Ralph and Gerry Mueller) celebrated his First Mass Sunday at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Landeck and had a get-together afterward in the church basement.
“From what I gather, the first Fr. Mueller was my dad’s great-uncle, Ralph. He served 7 or 8 years before he died; that was before my dad was born,” he explained. “The second was Fr. Don Mueller and he was my dad’s first cousin. The third was Fr. Paul Mueller but I believe he was a step-relative.”
One might think that it was a foregone conclusion that Eric would automatically follow in the footsteps of his ancestors but that was not the case early on.
“Growing up, through grade school, high school and college, I thought more about myself and what I wanted to do. When I was a junior in college, a young priest I know, Fr. Mike Dandurand, simply asked me if I had ever thought about becoming a priest and my reply was in the negative,” Mueller continued. “Still, that got me thinking about it and I could never stop. I at least began to pray about it and God started showing me what He wanted me to do. I finally worked up the courage to talk to my family and friends about it and they told me I’d make a good priest.
“I know a number of seminarians who have also credited Fr. Dandurand for their vocations; he simply asked them that question. I met him while I was working at BP Chemical in Lima and we worked out at the YMCA. I got to know him.”
The rest, as they say, is history: he applied to the Diocese of Toledo and was accepted. He attended St. Meinrad Seminary in southern Indiana, was ordained a transitional deacon last spring and was ordained a priest by Bishop Leonard Blair Saturday morning/afternoon in Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral in Toledo.
The journey that took him from St. John’s Grade and High School to the University of Findlay (a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Environmental and Hazardous Materials Management), then to the University of Toledo (Master’s of Science in Chemical Engineering), finally to a Master’s of Divinity at St. Meinrad, will see him next heads to Norwalk St. Paul as associate pastor and school chaplain beginning in early July.
“The ordination Mass was awesome, overwhelming and a great blessing. I was nervous leading up to it but as the Mass started, that was turned into joy,” he continued. “At Mass today, I was nervous but as it started, that was replaced by calmness. Again, that was a great gift and blessing.”
Rev. Mueller hopes to bring that blessing to his ministry.
“I simply want to bring the love of Christ to those I am serving through the sacraments and the Word but most of all through loving example,” he concluded. “I also plan on learning a lot from the parishioners, teaching me about what it means to be a good priest.”

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