April 22, 1993
Father Justin Betzen
Father Betzen was born in Colwich, KS on February 15, 1924. He attended St. Lawrence Seminary, Mt. Calvary, WI and St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee, WI before his ordination at St. Anthony Church in Wichita by Bishop Carroll on April 22, 1949. As an assistant he served at Sacred Heart Parish in Dodge City and Holy Savior Parish in Wichita before becoming the director of the Diocesan Youth Program in 1951. As pastor he worked at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Andover, St. Peter Claver Parish in Wichita and St. Marys Parish in Chase before serving as chaplain for eleven years in the United States Air Force in Turkey, Japan, Korea and in the United States. Upon his return to the diocese in 1971 he was pastor in Caney with Sedan and Cedarvale as missions and later in Piqua for nineteen years. At the time of his death on April 22, 1993 (the forty-fourth anniversary of his ordination) Father Betzen lived at the Priest Retirement Center in Wichita. Bishop Gerber presided at a Mass of Christian Burial for him on April 26, 1993 in St. Elizabeth Chapel at the Catholic Care Center in Wichita. Father Betzen was buried in St. Mark’s Cemetery at St. Mark, KS.