Father Anthony (Norbert) Ozimek, OSB, died during the night on Wednesday, August 26, 2015, at Aspen View Senior Living Community in Billings, Montana, where he had resided since undergoing heart surgery and suffering the effects of a stroke in recent years. He was 74 years old, in monastic vows for 53 years, and in his 47th year of priesthood.
Anthony Ozimek was born in Cleveland in 1940 to Anthony and Josephine (Miller) Ozimek (both deceased). He had two brothers, Joseph (deceased) and Phillip, and sisters Kathleen and Nancy. He attended St. Michael’s Elementary School in Independence, Ohio and graduated from Benedictine High School in 1959. After attending St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, for two years, he entered the novitiate for Saint Andrew Abbey receiving the religious name of Norbert. He professed his first vows in 1962.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Borromeo College Seminary in 1964, and continued his theological studies at Blessed Sacrament Seminary and Saint Mary Seminary in Cleveland. He was ordained a priest on June 8, 1968, by Bishop Clarence Elwell.
After catching his breath during the summer of 1968, Father Norbert joined the faculty of Benedictine High School as an English teacher and moderator of the band, and launched himself into nearly five decades of service to the school, the diocese, and later to the wider Church in a wide variety of ministries often overlapping and requiring much time and energy.
As a young priest he was the band moderator, the school chaplain, director of the student television production studio, chairman of the theology department, director of student retreats, English teacher, class moderator, bus driver, director of the transportation department, and public relations and recruitment director, learned photography and built a professional darkroom all within his first ten years on the faculty.
To each of these assignments he brought energy and creativity, never leaving a job without transforming and improving it. In his “spare” time, he became a chaplain with the Catholic Boy Scouts, assisted on weekends at St. John’s Parish in Akron, Ohio, and became involved in the diocesan Teens Encounter Christ (TEC) weekend retreat program.
Demographic changes in the city of Cleveland between 1965 and 1975 resulted in the flight of many Catholic families to the suburbs and the closing of a number of urban Catholic elementary schools. The enrollment of Benedictine High School during that decade dropped quickly from 800 to 400 students. As local newspapers speculated on the possible closing of our school and its neighborhood rival, Cathedral Latin High School (which did close in 1979), Father Norbert was appointed in 1975 as the first director of Benedictine High School’s new transportation department. Within three years, Father Norbert had purchased a collection of old and new buses and vans that provided six daily routes for potential students. He also became the department’s first mechanic. The expanded bus program stabilized the enrollment at 450 students and made future growth possible.
As his duties in the high school became more administrative, he began to volunteer at nearby Rainbow Babies and Children Hospital for more personal and pastoral experiences with young people with severe needs. This led to the development of a unique friendship with Brad Ambacher, a 17 year old student from St. Joseph’s High School who was suffering from cystic fibrosis.
Father Norbert saw a need to help motivate the young man as he struggled with his disease.
Seeing Brad’s love of baseball, Father Norbert made headlines in newspapers across the country during the summer of 1978 as he organized an 18 city tour from coast to coast to see 23 of the major league baseball teams play in their home stadiums. Father Norbert was able to solicit many donations and souvenirs for Brad as well as arrange personal meetings with his favorite players.
That intense experience led Father Norbert to request a change of ministry into health care as chaplain. Abbot Jerome Koval, OSB, granted him permission to go through a new pastoral care training program at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, DC, that resulted in his certification as a mental health care chaplain by the Division of Chaplain Services of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops.
At that time, there were only a few Catholic hospitals in the nation that incorporated the multi-disciplined, collegial, and ecumenical pastoral team approach of this type of chaplain certification. Because of his involvement with government programs, Father Norbert was given permission in 1979 to return to his baptismal and legal name of Father Anthony Ozimek.
For the next 35 years, Father Anthony served at assignments long distances away from the monastery. He worked as the chaplain at St. Elizabeth’s Community Hospital in Baker, Oregon, (1979-1984), St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tacoma, Washington, (1984-1988), and St. Vincent’s Hospital in Billings, Montana, (1989-2006). He also was involved in a variety of ways in assisting part-time at parishes in these dioceses until his deteriorating health required full-time care.
Although he loved to be interacting with people, Father Anthony lived his vocation as a monk and priest with a very independent spirit. He touched many lives as God’s instrument in a variety of challenging situations. May the Divine Physician grant him the spiritual healing and rest that he sought so hard to give to others.
Father Anthony’s funeral Mass was celebrated at the Abbey Church on Thursday evening, September 3, 2015. Abbot Gary Hoover, OSB was the main celebrant and Father Gerard Gonda, OSB, was the homilist. Please remember his soul in the customary Masses and prayers. 
Saint Andrew Benedictine Abbey Cleveland, Ohio
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