Columban Father Howard Eisel RIP
Submitted by FatherSean on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 17:17.
Fr Howard Eisel (1929-2011)
Fr Howard Patrick Eisel died on 31 August 2011. May he rest in peace.
Born on 27 April 1929 in Brainerd, Minnesota, Howard Eisel first studied at Silver Creek, New York, went to Bristol, Rhode Island, in 1948 and then moved to the Major Seminary at St Columbans, Nebraska. He was ordained on 18 December 1954, in Milton, Massachusetts, by Archbishop Richard Cushing of Boston, Massachusetts.
Fr Eisel sailed for Korea in 1955 with nine other Columbans. After a language course, he was assigned to work under another Minnesota Columban, Bishop Harold Henry of Kwangju. The Korean War had reduced the people to subsistence living, so Fr Eisel started 4-H clubs in his parish to help them feed themselves. The people prospered with a system of mixed farming and fishing, and hundreds turned to the faith of this quiet-spoken, hard-working man who lived and suffered with them during those difficult times.
Fr Eisel remained in Korea until June 1983 when he returned to his home diocese of Duluth, Minnesota. In July 2009, he moved to the Columban house in Bristol, Rhode Island. In January 2010, he entered hospital and subsequently a rehabilitation facility after suffering a fall. Fr Eisel died on Wednesday, 31 August 2011, at Crestwood Nursing Home in Warren, Rhode Island.
