Rev. Msgr. Frederick J. Helduser

Msgr. Frederick J. Helduser, 67, pastor of St. Dorothy Roman Catholic Church in Drexel Hill since 1989, died of a heart attack Wednesday. July 2, 2003 at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood.

“He was a brilliant orator and homilist,” said the Rev. Michael Murphy, who assisted Msgr. Helduser at St. Dorothy’s. “People would call the rectory to find out what Mass he was saying to hear his sermons.” Murphy said that the pastor had great compassion. “He loved visiting the sick and the housebound,” Murphy said.

Msgr. Helduser grew up in Havertown and graduated from West Catholic High School for Boys in Philadelphia before entering St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.

He was ordained in 1960 in Rome and received a license in sacred theology from Gregorian University in Rome in 1961 and a doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome in 1965.

After teaching religion for a year at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia, he joined the faculty of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary as professor of philosophy. From 1974 to 1981, he was vice rector at the seminary.

For three years, he was spiritual director of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Florida and then returned to St. Charles in 1984 as faculty member and director of the Permanent Diaconate Department. The department had been established in the early 1980s to ordain laymen as deacons to assist priests in ministering to parishioners.

In addition to his seminary duties, Msgr. Helduser assisted pastors at St. Francis de Sales Church in Philadelphia and St. Joseph Church in Cheltenham.

He enjoyed deep-sea fishing; a large sailfish he caught while on vacation in the Virgin Islands was displayed in the rectory. Sister Mary Hasson, the parish administrator, said that since Msgr. Helduser had become pastor, “he never went on vacation. He always wanted to be here. The parish was his life.”

Msgr. Helduser is survived by a brother, Joseph; a sister, Mary Trefz; a niece; and two nephews.

A parish Mass will be said at 7:30 p.m. Monday at St. Dorothy Church, Township Line and Burmont Roads, Drexel Hill. There will be a vespers service and calling hours from 4 to 7:30 p.m. at the church. A Funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the church. Friends may call from 9 to 11 a.m. Burial will be in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.