Joan Dressler knows the name of just about every priest in the Diocese. That’s because she’s been the warm smile that has greeted every seminarian on a required pre-ordination retreat and visiting priests entering the kitchen at House of Prayer for Priests for the last 30 years.
“She would meet all of them when they were just about to be ordained. She’s a very motherly person and, as one who has raised a big family, she had very good judgment about people. She knew how to be supportive and gracious with the priests starting from the time when they were just about to be ordained,” says Father Gordon Moreland, SJ. The former director of House of Prayer for nearly 32 years, Fr. Moreland hired Dressler in 1987. “Often, the priests would come in and see her in the kitchen before I would see them come around for something they needed. She is a friend to many of the priests in the Diocese.”
Dressler has served as cook at House of Prayer for nearly 30 years. When needed, she will drive 22 miles from her Laguna Woods home to prepare a meal for large groups gathering at House of Prayer.
“She will always ask which priests are visiting or what would a priest like to eat. She really provides a loving and caring presence to those who come to the House of Prayer,” says Father Domenico Di Raimondo, MSpS, who became the new director at the House of Prayer last August. “Sometimes she’ll say ‘Well, I could retire but the House of Prayer means a lot to me and the priests mean a lot to me.’ She says we are here on a mission. She doesn’t see her presence here as work, she sees it more like a mission, a vocation, a calling from God.”
Dressler, the youngest of seven children, grew up in a Catholic family in Long Beach during World War II. Dressler attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School and married soon after graduation, raising seven children of her own, all of whom were baptized at Holy Innocents Parish and by the same priest who baptized her as an infant.
In 1968, she and her husband moved their growing family to a larger home in a neighborhood in Cypress, eight houses down from St. Irenaeus Parish where she served as a sacristan and created the flower arrangements for funeral and wedding Masses on the weekends while working full time as a florist at Wayne’s Flowers. She eventually was hired as a cook for the parish rectory in 1981 and continued for five years. Father Moreland later hired her to work as a cook at House of Prayer in 1987. Over the years, she has also decorated the bishops’ residence for Christmas and created the floral arrangements for ordinations and sewed banners for the altar.
“I’ve probably been to most all of the tabernacles in Orange County setting up for different Masses,” she laughs.
Dressler’s invaluable work didn’t go unnoticed. To honor her work in the Church, she was chosen to serve as sacristan during a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II at Dodger Stadium in 1987.
“It was such a great honor but it didn’t really hit me until it was all over and even when the pope put the rosary beads in my hand, which I still carry in my wallet to this day,” she says. “I was so focused on the work. I just wanted everything to be right.”
At 83, Dressler could easily retire but she loves the work she does in the Church and respects the priests she serves.
“I have a love for the Lord. If I didn’t have my faith, I wouldn’t be here today,” she said.
Full story at OC Catholic.
A real live saint, doing the small but important stuff.
Last the story tells of Mr. Dressler was 1968. What happened?
A wonderful Catholic news story! This faithful, loving, devout, truly Catholic woman, a loving wife and mother of seven, deeply dedicated to the Church– is the type of excellent role model for Catholic girls, that I was used to, when young! MISS these fine, dedicated, devout, truly Catholic women!! MISS them so much!! Catholic girls today, need them badly, as good role models!
Without the authentic, Traitional Man and Woman– serving in their natural, excellent, traditional God-given roles, as the traditional Wife, Mother, and Homemaker– and the traditional Husband, Father, and family breadwinner- also nurturing our future priests and nuns, in their natural, large Catholic families — our Church and our country wil simply disintegrate, and will not be able to function!! Very SICK Church and country, when True Manhood and True Womanhood are destroyed, by SICK leaders! Oh, yes- there is that tiny percentage of the population, that will not be able to fit these roles– and yes, God has a place where they, too, can remain chaste, and serve the Church and society well!