Dear Parishioners, Students and Friends of the H.L. Grant Catholic Student Center,

Fr. Jonathan Niehaus, ISP, former director of the H.L. Grant Catholic Student Center at Texas State University, died this morning.  He was battling cancer which was in his lungs and back and discovered in October 2011.  Living in Germany at the Father House of the Schoenstatt Order, he received treatment for the cancer but was unable to recover from a lung infection this week.  Several of his family members were with him in Germany as were his fellow priests in the Schoenstatt order.  

Please join us in praying for Fr. Jonathan, his family and the Schoenstatt movement who will greatly miss him.  Mass will be celebrated for Fr. Jonathan at the H.L. Grant Catholic Student center & St. Jude chapel on Thursday, Friday and Sunday of this week.  

On September 15, 2005, Fr Jonathan Niehaus of the Schoenstatt Fathers joined the Catholic Student Center staff on a part time basis as he continued in campus ministry development in other Austin Diocese campuses.  His previous assignment was in Wisconsin as director of the Schoenstatt Boys Youth  Program.  On October 12, 2006, Bishop Gregory Aymond officially appointed Fr Jonathan as the Director of the Catholic Student Center.   Under his direction, many exciting things began to occur at the CSC, the most notable being the naming of St. Jude’s Chapel, employment of a Development Director, and introduction of student missionary programs.  He is fondly remembered by many of the students and recent graduates of Texas State, especially for his “paper bag” homilies from which he drew a variety of objects captivating the attention and forming the hearts of eager listeners.  

Fr Jonathan was recalled by the Schoenstatt Fathers in June, 2009, and was assigned to Germany to their Order’s house.  Because of his fluency in German he was appointed Librarian/Historian tasked with translating their founder's writings into English.  In addition he travelled to the Order’s seminaries teaching formation classes.

For updates please see the Blog of Fr. Jonathan’s brother, Fr. Mark Niehaus.                https://sites.google.com/site/frmjniehaus/chronicle/chronicle2-1

From this blog:

January 19, 2012

Fr. Mark Joseph Niehaus, ISP

"Life is beautiful..."

Fr. Jonathan passed away at 12:45pm German time (5:45am CST). He had an infection that spread to both lungs that caused him to have difficulty breathing. There was a noticeable deterioration from Tuesday when Becky and Fr. Tom arrived to Wednesday. Fr. Tom spent the night of the 18th to the 19th with him and was able to celebrate a final Mass with him and pray the liturgy of the hours. The final thing he kept repeating was that "Life is beautiful."

Funeral arrangements and an obituary are pending. Rest in peace brother!

In Christ,
Fr. Brian Eilers
Director
H.L. Grant Catholic Student Center