In Memorium: Msgr. Morgan Rowsome

Msgr. Morgan Rowsome, who served for nearly 20 years as pastor at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles parish in Corpus Christi, died in a car accident on May 22. He was laid to rest in his native Ireland.

Msgr. Rowsome was not alone during his last minutes on earth. Two passers-by–one a Protestant pastor–stopped to render aide and prayed the Our Father and other Psalms with Msgr. Rowsome before he was airlifted to University Medical Center in San Antonio where hospital staff pronounced him dead.

“Prayer was with him even at the end of his life,” Bishop Michael Mulvey said.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Msgr. Rowsome, 72, fell asleep, veered off the shoulder on Interstate 37 and struck a guardrail near the town of Campbellton. He was returning home to San Antonio from a visit to Corpus Christi.

After his 2013 retirement, Msgr. Rowsome moved to San Antonio to live with his sister and brother-in-law, Gilbert and Catherine Lopez. In retirement, he volunteered to celebrate Mass at various San Antonio parishes including St. Mark the Evangelist where his funeral services were held on May 26.

May, the month dedicated to the Blessed Mother of Jesus, was an important milestone for Msgr. Rowsome, who was born on May 5, 1943, was ordained on May 31, 1970 and departed his earthly live on May 22.

Msgr. Rowsome wrote in a May 1, 2014 column for the South Texas Catholic, that his parents “like most young people of that time, never attended high school, but they had more wisdom than many who had degrees and diplomas…They knew the word of God well and were able to apply the lessons…to everyday life.”

From this loving home he was raised to love and to serve God. As a child he was often affected with rheumatic fever and doctors told him he would never become a priest. After a pilgrimage to Lourdes he entered the seminary in 1964. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Corpus Christi six years later in St. Peter’s College in Wexford, Ireland.

He crossed the Atlantic that summer and in July 1970 he received his first assignment as associate pastor at Most Precious Blood parish in Corpus Christi. After a year he was made associate pastor at St. Pius X parish and a year after that at Christ the King.

His birthday on Cinco de Mayo took on special significance when in October 1976 he was named associate pastor at San Luis Rey parish in the border city of Laredo, then still part of the Diocese of Corpus Christi. After a year at San Luis Rey, Msgr. Rowsome was named priest-in-charge of San Martin de Porres where he became the founding pastor two years later when it was elevated to a parish.

He remained at San Martin de Porres 13 years before returning to Corpus Christi in 1993 where he took charge of St. John of the Cross in Orange Grove. The following year, he drove 24 miles up FM 624 to St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles where he served until his retirement in 2013.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI elevated Father Morgan to the rank of monsignor, naming him Prelate of Honor. While at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles he served as Dean of the Five Points Deanery and served as a member of the Presbyteral Council, the Priests’ Personnel Board and the Diocesan Finance Council.

“Msgr. Rowsome was a joyful, caring servant of the Lord and within the fraternity of priests he was a welcomed brother. Monsignor had a great impact on many lives during his years of priestly ministry in both the Dioceses of Corpus Christi and Laredo and was an inspiration to many vocations to the priesthood,” Bishop Mulvey said.

At a Memorial Mass celebrated at the Corpus Christi Cathedral on May 30, Bishop Mulvey said Msgr. Rowsome had given 45 years of his life to “dedicated witness and dedicated service” to Jesus Christ. “Msgr. Morgan lived for Christ,” Bishop Mulvey said.

Bishop Mulvey went on to say that Msgr. Rowsome knew the people his parish served; he was “a good shepherd.” He shared with his parishioners the “joy” of the sacraments–at the baptismal fount, the first communion rail, at confirmations, weddings and in inspiring vocations.

“We will miss his jolly laugh, his beautiful smile, his great humor and his many jokes,” Bishop Mulvey said.

After retirement, Msgr. Rowsome published two books. In his first book entitled “Laughing Louder, Living Longer” he shared many of the jokes that had become his trademark at the end of each Mass. In his second book, “Hands Are for Loving, Healing and Helping” he paid tribute to his parents and the lessons of love they had instilled in him.