Matthew John Strupp was born on November 27, 1935, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to Matthias Johann, a blacksmith, and Amelia (Herrick) Strupp, a housewife. The youngest of four children, Matthew grew up with his siblings Frank and Mary Jane. His elder brother, Matthew Karl, passed away just ten days after birth.
In the fall of 1951, Matthew entered St. Lawrence Seminary College as a sophomore. Initially, he knew very little about the Capuchins and had “no intention of becoming one.” However, during his senior year, he felt drawn to the friars due to their example of service: “the way they were interested in the students and gave of themselves.”
On August 31, 1954, Matthew entered the novitiate at St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit and received the religious name Joachim. He made his first vows on September 1, 1955. Joachim then continued his studies at St. Felix Friary in Huntington, Indiana, for his college years and made his perpetual vows on September 1, 1958. During this time, he had the privilege of spending five months with Solanus Casey at Huntington. He completed his priestly studies at St. Anthony Friary in Marathon, Wisconsin.
Bishop John P. Treacy ordained Joachim to the priesthood at St. Mary Church in Marathon, Wisconsin, on April 20, 1963. During his fifth year of theology in Milwaukee, Joachim volunteered to serve at St. Labre Mission on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana. He had been inspired by visiting friars from Montana and his experiences at catechism camps for Native American children in Upper Michigan. In August 1964, he made his way to Big Sky Country.
From 1964 to 1968, Joachim served as Assistant Pastor and School Superintendent at St. Labre Mission in Ashland, Montana, while pursuing graduate studies in School Administration at the University of Montana. He continued his work with Native American communities as Pastor at St. Charles Mission in Pryor, Montana, from 1968 to 1972, and later returned to St. Labre Mission as Pastor in 1976. These were turbulent years marked by the rise of Native American activism and the American Indian Movement (AIM), which advocated for tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. Facing personal and community tensions, Joachim requested a change in ministry and was transferred to San Damiano Friary in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1976.
Encouraged by his provincial, Joachim pursued certification in Clinical Pastoral Education (C.P.E.) at St. Joseph Hospital and briefly worked as a chaplain at St. Michael Hospital. He resided at St. Francis Friary in Milwaukee during this time.
In 1977, Joachim returned to Montana, serving on the pastoral team at Blessed Sacrament in Lame Deer, Montana, until 1979. He later became the chaplain and director of Pastoral Care at St. Vincent Hospital in Billings, Montana, from 1979 to 1985. However, missing the community life of the friars, he requested a transfer back to the Midwest but was instead called to serve again among the Crow peoples as Pastor at St. Dennis and St. Xavier until the summer of 1987.
After 22 years in Montana, Joachim returned to the Midwest and was appointed Provincial Archivist and a community member at St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit, a role he held from 1987 to 1995. During this time, he traveled to Germany and Switzerland for archival research and introduced the first computer system in the archive’s office.
From 1995 to 1997, Joachim pursued his desire for deeper prayer ministry and joined the interprovincial hermitage of the St. Augustine Province in Herman, Pennsylvania. Reflecting on his choice, he said: “I believe that prayer has to be at the heart of any province’s attempts to renew or refound itself.” Before moving to Herman, Joachim also spent time “ministering underground,” as he described it, to foreign workers in the Middle East oil camps.
Returning to the province, Joachim moved to St. Lawrence Friary in Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin, where he became chaplain to St. Francis Home in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. After a sabbatical in 2004, he entered semi-retirement, assisting with pastoral needs around Mt. Calvary, especially serving the retired School Sisters of Notre Dame. For 17 years, he was also the spiritual assistant to Secular Franciscan fraternities in Sarnia, Ontario, and Wisconsin, one of his most cherished ministries.
In 2012, Joachim was invited to join the interprovincial novitiate in Santa Ynez, California, where he served both the local Church and ministered at a federal correctional complex. He found these ministries profoundly fulfilling, and many novices from that time remember him fondly.
Reflecting on his life in an interview with the Kenosha News, Joachim concluded: “There were some rough years, but I give heartfelt thanks for my vocation to the Capuchin order. I give thanks for all the Province of St. Joseph has done for me, for the friars who have inspired and challenged me, for the ministries I have served. We get too late smart and too old fast.”
Joachim is preceded in death by his parents, siblings, and Capuchin brothers, with whom he shared a life of prayer and ministry for seven decades.
Joachim chose a green burial. Rites of Commendation and Committal was at the Mt. Calvary Friary Cemetery, Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin, on Friday, September 20, 2024.
A Memorial Mass will be held on Saturday, October 5, 2024 at the St. Lawrence Seminary Chapel, 301 Church Street Mount Calvary WI 53057, at 4:00 p.m. (CDT). Light supper to follow at St. Lawrence Friary.
Liturgy will be live-streamed via www.thecapuchins.org
For further information, please contact the Sippel Funeral Home of St. Cloud (920) 999-2291 or visit www.sippelfuneralhome.net
Posted online on September 23, 2024
