July 21, 2025 // Bishop

The Humble Heart of Monsignor Shoemaker

Scott Warden

Editor-In-Chief

While His Title Has Changed, St. Charles Borromeo Pastor Remains Focused on Serving God’s People

After processing into St. Charles Borromeo Church to celebrate Mass on Sunday, July 20, Bishop Rhoades announced to the congregation that it was a rare treat to be with them during a Sunday in Ordinary Time. Generally, he said, his trips to the Fort Wayne parish are reserved for special celebrations – visits to the school, notable feast days, or larger diocesan gatherings. But for this middle-of-the-summer Mass, he said he just wanted to stop in – an ordinary visit during Ordinary Time.

As he noted at the end of Mass, however, that wasn’t entirely true. There was an ulterior motive – one that came straight from Rome.

“Now, I said at the beginning of the Mass that it’s so wonderful just to come for an ordinary Sunday Mass, but at this ordinary Sunday Mass, I’m going to make an extraordinary announcement,” Bishop Rhoades said. “And that is, a few weeks ago, I received a decree from the Secretariat of State of the Vatican informing me that our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has honored Father Tom [Shoemaker] with the title of Chaplain of His Holiness. And I thought, wow, that’s great. Do you know what Chaplain of His Holiness is? It also has another title: monsignor. Congratulations!”

As the faithful of the parish stood applauding and whistling after hearing the news of their pastor being given the title of monsignor, Father Shoemaker, sitting between the parish’s parochial vicars – Father Bobby Krisch to his right and Benedictine Father Jery Madathiparambil to his left – acknowledged the announcement with his trademark humility: a simple nod and his hands remaining in his lap.

“As you know, Father Tom is a very humble priest who doesn’t seek any honors,” Bishop Rhoades continued once the applause had died down. “I think this is a little difficult for him, but it shows our love and appreciation for his ministry, and it also honors all the priests of our diocese – and you, the parishioners of St. Charles.”

While the announcement was a surprise to the rest of the parish community, including his fellow clergy, Monsignor Shoemaker told Today’s Catholic that Bishop Rhoades had stopped by the parish in late June to present him with the certificate from the Vatican.

But the title change wasn’t a done deal. Not yet. There was still one major detail remaining before Father Shoemaker became Monsignor Shoemaker: He had to agree to it.

“I asked him if I could have a couple days to pray over this, if I was going to say yes or not, because I wasn’t too sure I wanted to accept the thing,” Monsignor Shoemaker told Today’s Catholic shortly after the announcement at Mass. Pressed about what gave him pause, he said: “Well, I’m not sure it’s good for the pride thing. I just worry about that. So, I talked to a couple of advisers, and they said that I should swallow my pride and say yes, this is good for the parish. This is a good thing for the priests in general, and also an appreciation of the bishops’ esteem for the ministries we do.”

He continued: “I spent a couple of days praying over it. Like I said, I’ve got a couple of priest friends who were outside of this diocese, and I consulted with them and asked them what they thought. And I wasn’t at first inclined to say yes, but they convinced me, and with some prayer, I thought, sure.”

While Monsignor Shoemaker questioned whether he wanted to accept the new title, no one questioned whether he deserved it.

Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in November of 1990, Monsignor Shoemaker has extensive experience on both sides of the diocese. He spent the first nearly eight years of his priesthood at St. Matthew Cathedral in South Bend before being assigned as pastor to St. Henry Parish in Fort Wayne in the summer of 1998. While at St. Henry, he also served as pastor of nearby Sacred Heart Parish until he was appointed as pastor of St. Jude Parish in Fort Wayne, where he served from 2001 until 2013.

Bishop Rhoades picks up the rest of the story, telling the St. Charles crowd: “He was doing a wonderful job [at St. Jude], but I needed to transfer him because I had a challenging situation at a parish in South Bend, and I thought, man, I need the right priest to go there and to kind of help out. … So, I transferred Father Tom to St. Thérèse, Little Flower Parish, and he was there for three years and really brought so much unity there, and I was so grateful.”

“And then [in 2016],” Bishop Rhoades continued, “Monsignor [John] Suelzer passed away, and I thought, oh my goodness, I need to send a really good priest to St. Charles. It’s a large parish that just suffered a loss of a beloved pastor. … And so, I asked Father Tom to come here to St. Charles. I know you appreciate him very much. … I’m really grateful for his example of a priestly life. That’s why I send young priests here, like Father Bobby, and seminarians, like Michael [Florin], because Father Tom truly is exemplary.”

Since his ordination in 2023, Father Krisch has served at St. Charles Borromeo alongside Monsignor Shoemaker, getting a chance to witness not only the humility with which he carries himself, but also the generosity he pours into his role as pastor.

“He’s a good man and a great priest, selfless in his ministry, always willing to take that next step to encounter the people and let the love of Christ be shown in his ministry,” Father Krisch said. “There are times when I’ve been with him at a nursing home or to take Communion to someone sick, and he just knows the people so well. He knows their spouses and their kids’ names. He’s invested in their lives, and it’s truly genuine. He makes the faith accessible because people are so comfortable around him.”

Deacon Rob Lortie, who has been assigned to St. Charles since his ordination to the permanent diaconate in 2023, concurred with Father Krisch.

“He’s a very good example of how to imitate Christ, but in a more humble way than I’ve ever seen,” Deacon Lortie said. “But I think it’s hard to sit in meetings with Father Tom and not feel like you’re in the presence of a saint. I tell my wife that all the time. He does such good work, but then he doesn’t want anyone to know about it. I’m sure [being appointed a monsignor] is going to be difficult for him as humble as he is.”

On Monday, August 4, Bishop Rhoades will return to St. Charles to officially present to Monsignor Shoemaker the Vatican decree making him a Chaplain of His Holiness. The presentation will take place at 6 p.m. during sung vespers, fittingly, on the feast of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests. Bishop Rhoades and Monsignor Shoemaker will be joined by priests from throughout the diocese, and the bishop encouraged the faithful to attend the event to welcome and pray for local clergy, including the diocese’s newest monsignor.

If it were up to Monsignor Shoemaker, though, he’d be just fine without anybody making a to-do about his new title. In fact, less than half an hour after the bishop’s announcement, the humble pastor had to cut short the post-Mass congratulations in the parish’s gathering space. He needed to get back to the church, where friends and family were waiting for him to baptize three young children. For Monsignor Shoemaker, God’s people remain the priority, and the Lord’s work awaits.

Scott Warden is editor-in-chief of Today’s Catholic.