Newest Director Brings Wisdom to Catholic Center as First Diocesan Director in Decades

With a venti iced Starbucks coffee in hand and his clerical collar not yet fastened under a Patagonia fleece, the Rev. Fred Wendel reclined in his office chair. As the newest pastor of the Catholic Center at UGA, Wendel, comfortably known as Father Fred by his parishioners, was settling in for a long day of serving the Catholic community of Athens in a time that called for an abundance of faith. 

In addition to adjustments made and safety measures taken due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wendel, 71, and the Rev. Brian McNavish are the first diocesan priests to serve the students of UGA since 1957. Until July, the center was led by Franciscan brothers. 

Jenni Toutkoushian, the Catholic Center’s secretary and leader of stewardship, has worked at the center for decades. She recalled a conversation she had with the former director, Brother Frank Critch, upon hearing the news of who would be next to lead the students. 

“He said, ‘They made the right choice,’” Toutkoushian said. “I think Father Fred and Father Brian have this Franciscan heart and just the enthusiasm for this place. Truly, their focus on the students too, that’s what’s important here.” 

His enthusiasm spills into his sermons each week. With a voice that boomed through the “witch’s hat”-structure of the center’s chapel, Wendel bridged the parable of the wedding feast with the story of his own adoption during one Sunday evening Mass. 

Quoting the Gospel of Matthew 22:14, “For many are called, but few are chosen,” Wendel’s obvious talent for storytelling crosses over into the way he preaches to the youth and families of the center. 

Father Fred Wendel of the Catholic Center at UGA reaches out to fist bump a student parishioner after Sunday evening Mass. Photo by Sydney Kohne.

A former UGA student himself, Wendel admitted the circumstances of his return to Athens are strange, but soothingly full circle.

“Can you imagine as an eighteen-year-old in the fall of 1967 someone saying to you, ‘Fred, in the year 2020 you’re going to be a Catholic priest, you’ll kind of come out of retirement, and come to Georgia to take over the Catholic Center,’” he said, laughing at his own words. “I mean, what the hell planet do you come from?”

But his tone quickly went from joking to humbled as he detailed the path he took to come to be appointed to lead the Catholic Center. 

From his birth and adoption into an Army family in Washington, to his own stationing in Berlin, then seminary and priesthood in Wyoming and Atlanta, to coming out of “retirement” to serve the Athens community, Wendel says he feels filled with joy and gratitude. 

He unhooked his UGA-themed mask from one ear to wipe his nose and eyes with a Kleenex. It choked him up to survey the life he has lived. 

“This opportunity to go out and do…I can’t tell you what that…wow,” he trails off, lost for the right words. “The experiences I had, the people that I met, the things I got to do…it’s just all been this wonderful journey of gratitude. I’m very blessed.”