Father Huegelmeyer, Maryknoll missionary to Central America, dies

By Catholic Review Staff

A funeral Mass for Maryknoll Father Charles T. Huegelmeyer, a Baltimore native and missionary to Central America, was offered June 9 at Queen of Apostles Chapel in Maryknoll, N.Y. Father Huegelmeyer died May 31 at Mission St. Teresa’s Residence in Ossining, N.Y. He was 90.

Born in 1924 in Baltimore, Father Huegelmeyer attended St. Mary’s Parochial School and graduated from St. Charles College in Catonsville in 1942.

He was ordained June 9, 1951, and completed doctoral studies in Latin, Greek and the classics as well as served on the faculties of the Venard Minor Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pa., and Maryknoll College in Glen Ellyn, Ill., where he was academic dean and a classics instructor.

Father Huegelmeyer received took on several assignments to Central America, beginning with Guatemala in 1962. From 1986-1992, he worked in over 90 villages and baptized thousands during his ministry at San Luis Rey in Peten, Guatemala.

“The people are poor, mostly with very small farms, barely scraping out a living,” Father Huegelmeyer said at his 60th jubilee in 2011, according to the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, “yet their faith, their confidence in God is enormous.”

Father Huegelmeyer’s missionary and pastoral work also took him to El Salvador and Honduras. Between overseas assignments, he served the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers in various capacities. After his official retirement in 2001, Father Huegelmeyer continued to minister at parishes in Westchester County, N.Y.

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Catholic Review

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