St. Pius X: the pastors, Holy Cross and diocesan

CHAPLAINS FROM 1924 · SCHOOLER 2001–2024 · HEINTZ 2024–PRESENT

The succession runs in two orders: for the parish's first two-thirds of a century its priests were Holy Cross men — the chaplains of St. Joseph's Farm, whose list the parish's own record begins in 1924, twelve years before the farm community counted itself a parish in embryo, and then the pastors of the Fir Road parish from its 1956 establishment to the handover of 2001. The individual names of the Holy Cross era stand in the parish's own chaplains' list, which this section cites at its strength — the list exists and begins in 1924 — without reproducing names it did not read first-hand; the full succession of the farm chaplains and Holy Cross pastors is a named gap at name strength, settler: the parish's own published list and the Congregation of Holy Cross's provincial archives. The diocesan succession, by contrast, is a matter of the diocesan paper's full record. Monsignor William C. Schooler became pastor in 2001, the first diocesan priest to hold the parish, and held it twenty-three years — through the school building, the great campaign, and the dedication of the present church. He retired in 2024, and the diocesan paper's account of the succession is explicit: after eight years away as professor and academic dean at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, Monsignor Michael Heintz returned to the diocese in the summer of 2024 as pastor of St. Pius X — a parish he already knew, having made it his second home during his seminary breaks at the invitation of his former high school teacher, the retiring pastor himself. The correction this makes to the Story of Granger section is printed plainly: the Story of Granger section, written from a directory that lagged, carries Schooler as still holding the parish; the diocese's own record supersedes it — Schooler retired in 2024 and Heintz holds the parish. Heintz is a scholar-pastor of documented standing: a Notre Dame Ph.D. of 2008, a patristics scholar, visiting director of Notre Dame's Marten Program in Homiletics and Liturgics, formerly of St. Matthew Cathedral's staff, and on January 17, 2026, the recipient of the St. Paul Center's Letter and Spirit Award, the center's highest honor for biblical scholars. He holds St. Pius X as of November 2026, with Father Andy Barnes on the parish staff in the parish's own current listing, and with the diocesan assignments of May 2025 moving Father Augustine Onuoha out of the parish to a pastorate and Father David Langford into it as parochial vicar.

Sources:

1. Today's Catholic, August 25, 2024 — "Monsignor Michael Heintz Returns to the Diocese as Pastor of St. Pius X": the eight years at Mount St. Mary's Seminary, the predecessor "recently retired after 23 years of pastoring St. Pius," and Heintz's earlier summers at the parish.
2. Today's Catholic, January 20, 2026 — the Letter and Spirit Award of January 17, 2026, naming Heintz "now pastor of St. Pius X Parish in Granger" and his service at St. Matthew Cathedral.
3. Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend, October 26, 2026 — "Monsignor Michael Heintz is the pastor at St. Pius X Parish in Granger."
4. University of Notre Dame, Department of Theology — Heintz's faculty record (Ph.D. 2008; Marten Program director; "pastor of St. Pius X Parish, Granger").
5. St. Pius X Parish, current parish record (stpius.net) — reconciliation appointments under Msgr. Michael Heintz and Fr. Andy Barnes; Today's Catholic, May 18, 2025 — the assignments of Fr. David Langford (in) and Fr. Augustine Onuoha (out).
6. St. Pius X Parish, Strategic Plans — the Holy Cross chaplains' list beginning in 1924 and Msgr. Schooler's pastorate from 2001 as the first diocesan priest, at the strength stated in the entry.