Marcia Ochsenbauer — mother of Father Zachary Ochsenbauer, who was ordained May 31 — died when Father Ochsenbauer was only 6 years old. Twenty years later, the woman who received Marcia’s donated heart sat in the pews at Father Ochsenbauer’s ordination.
Dave Hrbacek, senior content specialist for The Catholic Spirit, sat down with Father Ochsenbauer and his father, Tom Ochsenbauer, to talk about this experience, Hrbacek said on the “Practicing Catholic” radio program set to debut at 9 p.m. July 18 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
“One thing that goes into writing a story like this is being able to have the kind of conversation with people where they are comfortable enough to talk about all the details of it, because that’s what makes a story,” Hrbacek said. “It’s something that I try very hard to do. And one of the biggest things that I’ve learned is a story like this, you need to sit down with him in person. And I think to sit in the kitchen of the Forest Lake home where Father Zachary grew up and where his dad still lives makes it all come alive and makes it all become real.”
Hrbacek called himself a bird dog when it comes to finding stories for The Catholic Spirit.
“There (are) people that hunt pheasants and they bring a dog, and they say the dog is just like getting antsy in its kennel,” Hrbacek said. “And when they let it (out), the dog just races out there. … They get on the trail of a bird and then as soon as they get to where the bird is, they just stop, and they freeze and they just take in everything and that’s kind of what I do. I work hard to be able to set up these interviews.”
Hrbacek said that some of the most compelling details of a story sometimes come out later when an interviewee feels comfortable sharing.
“More often than not, and especially with all the years that I’ve been doing this and the familiarity people have with who I am and what I do, they eventually start giving more details, and I always consider it a sacred trust,” Hrbacek said. “I am a caretaker of their story, and that’s what I want to do when I write it.”
The priests in Father Ochsenbauerr’s story, Hrbacek observed, were a great gift to the Ochsenbauer family when Marcia died. Father Troy Przybilla and then-Father Donald DeGrood (now Bishop DeGrood of the Diocese of Sioux Falls) arrived at the hospital to support the family.
“The family was going through this agonizing period of two days when Marcia just was not responding, not recovering in any way, shape or form. … Tom took the kids to nearby St. Raphael (in Crystal), which is where Marcia grew up and where Tom took her for a Mass on one of their early dates, and he sat down with the kids and that was the moment when he said to his three children, ‘Mom’s not coming home.’ And that’s kind of the end of that chapter with a new chapter about to begin.”
To hear the full interview with radio show producer Rachael McCallum, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. July 19 and 2 p.m. July 20. Hrbacek’s article about Father Ochsenbauer’s family can be read on The Catholic Spirit website at tinyurl.com/49avdaub.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes an interview with Paul Wagner, parishioner of St. Paul in Ham Lake, about being a father of eight. Also, Zach Jansen, the digital content producer for the archdiocese, discusses the spiritual undercurrents of the movie “The Sound of Music.”
Listen to interviews after they have aired at archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
