[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 18, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S8123]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         FATHER WILLIAM SHERMAN

 Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, for almost a half century a 
Catholic priest in North Dakota has lived a remarkable double life. In 
one guise, Father Bill Sherman is a holy man, the kind of warm and 
perfect parish priest who would have once been played by Spencer Tracy. 
But in his other role, he is the talented scholar and painstakingly 
diligent chronicler who, like no other authority, commands the ethnic 
history of North Dakota.
  Because Father Sherman is retiring this month from the religious 
vineyards, I want to take note of his remarkable alter ego--that of the 
State's most eminent ethnic historian.
  He has been a key player over the last 20 years in producing four 
impressive volumes on the subject--``Plain Folks: North Dakota's Ethnic 
History,'' ``Prairie Mosaic: An Ethnic Atlas of Rural North Dakota,'' 
``African Americans in North Dakota,'' and the most recent book, 
``Prairie Peddlers: Syrian-Lebanese in North Dakota,'' which is now 
coming off the presses. In addition, he was also one of the authors of 
``Scattered Steeples, The Fargo Diocese, A Written Celebration of Its 
Centennial.''
  His volumes on the State's ethnic heritage are extraordinary works--
painstakingly researched, rich with thoughtful analysis, brightly 
written, and handsomely designed. They are works of careful scholarship 
of a high order and a real treasure for anyone intrigued with the 
marvelous ethnic diversity of America.
  Born in Detroit in 1927, Father Sherman grew up in North Carolina and 
Oregon before his family moved to Lidgerwood, ND. After high school, he 
joined the Army, serving in the Philippines and Japan at the end of 
World War II. He graduated from St. John's University in Collegeville, 
MN, got a bachelor's degree from North Dakota State University and a 
master's degree from the University of North Dakota and became a priest 
in 1955.
  He has served the parishes of the Cathedral of St. Mary in Fargo from 
1955 to 1962, the Newman Center at the University of North Dakota from 
1962 to 1964, St. Raphael's in Verona from 1964 to 1965, the Newman 
Center at NDSU from 1965 to 1975, St. Patrick's in Enderlin from 1975 
to 1976 and finally the diocese's largest parish, the 5,000-member 
strong St. Michael's of Grand Forks for 27 years.
  At UND, he taught religion and, at NDSU, where he is now professor 
emeritus, he taught sociology of religion and sociology of the Great 
Plains. He has received numerous awards, most recently an honorary 
doctorate of leadership degree from the University of Maryland.
  In a profile of Father Sherman this month, the Grand Forks Herald 
said, ``Sherman's style, of being a sometimes gruff, no-nonsense 
defender of old-fashioned, blue-collar Catholicism, while being genial 
good company to anyone, and wearing his academic accomplishments 
lightly, attracted many to the parish. It's difficult, if not 
impossible, to find a discouraging word said about Sherman, a fairly 
remarkable fact about any member of the clergy who stays in one spot a 
long time.''
  And a few days later, the editor of the newspaper called Father 
Sherman ``a remarkable man--a priest first and foremost, a man of old-
fashioned faith, but also a scholar, a witty conversationalist, a 
polished orator, an able administrator, a distinguished patriot, a 
community builder, a cool head in a crisis, a giver and an excellent 
friend to many thousands of people both within and outside his 
church.''
  Father Sherman is also a survivor. During the disastrous Red River 
flood of 1997, one of the worst to ever strike an American community, 
his parish was completed flooded and his church, school and rectory 
suffered heavy damage. Among the most painful losses was Father 
Sherman's collection of North Dakota history, a singular treasury of 
volumes on the State's heritage. But the indomitable cleric is now busy 
rebuilding that library and at work writing several more books, one on 
the transfer of Eastern European architecture to the Great Plains at 
the time of settlement and a second on another remarkable North Dakota 
priest who served during World War II with the Polish resistance.
  It is clear that retirement to Father Sherman means something 
different than it does to the rest of us. Not only will he still 
minister on a part-time basis to Roman Catholics, but he will continue 
to energetically research and write about intriguing aspects of North 
Dakota's ethic legacy.
  Although he has already provided a valuable and outstanding body of 
work on ethnic heritage, North Dakotans are grateful for his continued 
interest in the field. He is a scholar of the first order, a priest of 
the classic and finest model, and an exemplary citizen indeed.

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