The Diocese of Dodge City will honor five jubilarians at the Chrism Mass scheduled for April 1 at 11 a.m. in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

This year will mark the 70th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Bishop Marion F. Forst; the 65th anniversary of the ordination of Father John Lavrih; the 60th anniversary for Father James Kelly; the 50th anniversary for Father Dermot Tighe; and the 25th anniversary for Father Tony Judge, C.Ss.R. Bishop Forst and Father Lavrih will be honored in absentia.

Bishop Marion F. Forst was ordained to the priesthood on June 10, 1934 by the late John Cardinal Glennon, Archbishop of St. Louis. His first assignment was as assistant pastor at Blessed Sacrament Church in Denver. He served in this capacity for two years while on loan to the Diocese of Denver. He returned to the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 1936 and served as an assistant at Mary, Queen of Peace Parish in Glendale.

In 1942, Father Forst was transferred to St. Teresa’s Parish in North St. Louis. He remained there until 1943 when he entered the Navy as a chaplain. He served a three-year tour of duty as chaplain at the U.S. Amphibious Training Base, Coronado, Calif., and aboard the USS San Juan. Following his release from the Navy in 1946, he was assigned as assistant at St. Louis Cathedral; in June, 1949, he was assigned pastor at St. Mary’s Church in Cape Girardeau.

Father Forst was made a Papal Chamberlain on Dec. 31, 1954. Two years later when the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau was erected, Bishop Charles Helmsing chose him as Vicar General of the diocese. He continued as rector of St. Mary’s which became a Co-Cathedral. On Nov. 22, 1957, he was elevated to the rank of Right Reverend Monsignor and on July 24, 1959, he was made Protonotary Apostolic.

He was named second Bishop of the Diocese of Dodge City by Pope John XXIII. Bishop Forst was consecrated in the Cathedral of the Annunciation, Cape Girardeau on March 24, 1960, by his Ordinary, Bishop Helmsing with co-consecrators, Bishop Mark K. Carroll, Bishop of Wichita and Bishop Leo J. Byrne, Auxiliary of St. Louis.

Bishop Forst was installed on April 5, 1960 in Sacred Heart Cathedral in Dodge City by Archbishop Edward J. Hunkeler of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. He served the diocese as its Ordinary for more than 16 years from March 24, 1960 to Oct. 16, 1976 and was the diocese’s representative at the Second Vatican Council. His "Daily Journal of Vatican II" was published in 2000. He is now retired and living in Olathe.

Father John Lavrih, a native of Yugoslavia, was ordained by Bishop Gregorij Rozman at Ljublana, Slovenia, Yugoslavia, July 2, 1939.

He served in the following assignments: Dolrepolje, Yugoslavia; refugee priest, co-editor of Slovenski Dom Fugosl; refugee priest in Austria; and refugee priest at St. Kanzian Jauntal, Austria. Father Lavrih was admitted to America through the sponsorship of Bishop Mark Carroll.

His parish assignments in Kansas were: St. Mark at St. Marks; St. Joseph, Ellinwood; St. Lawrence, Jetmore and St. Anthony, Hanston; St. Anthony, Liberal; St. Nicholas, Kinsley, and St. Anthony, Fowler.

Father Lavrih retired in 1990 and resides at the Priest Retirement Center in Wichita.

Father James Kelly, a native of Ireland, attended Oscott Seminary in Birmingham, England for theology and was ordained to the priesthood in Ireland on Sept. 10, 1944, by the Most Reverend John Dalton, bishop of Meath. He came to the Diocese of Dodge City in January of 1953 and was incardinated by Bishop John B. Franz on Nov. 16, 1955.

He served in the following parishes: St. Mary, Marienthal; St. Joseph, Tribune; St. Anthony at St. Theresa; St. Theresa, Dighton; St. Joseph, Ellinwood, and St. Joseph, Liebenthal. He also served as chaplain at the Central Kansas Medical Center in Great Bend. In addition to his pastoral appointments, he was named Spiritual Director of the Dodge City Comitium of the Legion of Mary on March 31, 1963, and Dodge City Coordinator of Health Affairs on Sept. 12, 1968.

Father Kelly retired on May 22, 1989, and resides at the Priest Retirement Center in Wichita.

Father Tighe, also a native of Ireland, attended St. Patrick’s Seminary, Carlow. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Thomas Keough of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin at Carlow Cathedral on June 6, 1954.

He served in the following parishes: St. Joseph, Liebenthal; Sacred Heart Cathedral, Dodge City; St. Lawrence, Jetmore; St. Anthony, Hanston; St. Francis, Seward; St. Andrew, Wright; St. Stanislaus, Ingalls, and St. Patrick, Great Bend.

His diocesan positions included Director of Religious Vocations and Director of Hospitals. He served as full time Officialis in the Tribunal and Adjutant Judicial Vicar.

Father Tighe retired in February, 1998, and resides in Great Bend.

Father Anthony "Tony" Judge is one of four Redemptorists serving on the Hispanic Missionary Team in the Diocese of Dodge City.

He attended Holy Redeemer College in Waterford, Wisc., and received a bachelor of arts degree in Philosophy. He was ordained May 31, 1979, by Bishop Gutemberg Freire Regis, C.Ss.R., of the Prelacy of Coari, Brazil. He continued his studies and received Master’s degrees in Religious Education and Divinity, both from Mt. St. Alphonsus Seminary in Esopus, New York.

In 1981, Father Judge was assigned as missionary associate pastor at Our Lady of Grace parish in Amazones, Brazil. There, he coordinated a rural pastoral team to serve several rural village communities. In 1985, he began serving at St. Anne and St. Sebastian Parishes in Amazones, Brazil, where he and a large team of Redemptorists and lay ministers served five urban community centers and 135 rural villages.