FORTVILLE — Young Rob Hankee had a letter from his grandfather.
The boy had mentioned to his maternal grandfather something he’d given up for Lent. In the letter the man wrote to his grandson, he said maybe the boy would become a priest someday.
It was the first time the third-grader had thought about that.
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Years later, though, the Rev. Robert J. Hankee is indeed a priest. In July, he started his new assignment as pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Fortville.
The new priest said he finds the St. Thomas parish one with committed volunteers. They do a lot to help the congregation — meeting for worship in a building that holds 150 — still offer varied programs. He said that’s a blessing.
Hankee comes to Fortville after serving nine years in Corydon, celebrating Mass at three parishes in the area. He had completed one term there and had an idea a move might be coming, but he didn’t realize it would be so far from where he was — or so close to his parents, a pleasant surprise.
Hankee grew up on the north side of Indianapolis, graduating from Bishop Chatard High School in 1990. He was raised to root for Notre Dame football and Indiana University basketball — and quips that he in some way rebelled by going to Purdue University.
He was about halfway toward a degree in English literature when he had a “gut feeling” that perhaps he was being called to become a priest. With that in mind, he stuck with his lit major: “I figured it would come in handy writing homilies and other things.”
Hankee says he was sidetracked from the path to priesthood after college. He was working at a Catholic Youth Organization camp, met a woman and began dating her. Thoughts of the priesthood faded.
But eventually, he resumed the path. He didn’t want to go through life wondering if there’d been a call on his life that he didn’t answer.
“I didn’t want to … have the question lingering,” he said. “I didn’t think that would be fair.”
In 1998 he entered Saint Meinrad School of Theology, not yet to say he was becoming a priest, but simply to answer the question, “Am I being called?” He found his answer and was ordained in 2002.
Hankee recalls a variety of people who helped shape his spiritual life. His father lived his faith through actions, such as cleaning gutters for an elderly neighbor; his mother has been a prayerful person. A supportive extended family also influenced his journey.
Then there was the Rev. James Sweeney, Hankee’s priest as he was growing up. When Sweeney visited Hankee’s fifth-grade class at St. Pius X School one day, he and classmates pictured “Father Jim” as a truck driver more than a priest.
“He was very joyful,” Hankee recalls, and he gave good homilies. “Even as a kid, they kept my attention.”
As a seminarian, Hankee was a summer intern at Christ the King Catholic Church in Indianapolis, where Msr. Francis Tuohy was pastor and the Rev. Joseph Pesola was associate pastor. Tuohy served at St. Thomas in the early 1970s. Pesola served at St. Thomas in the early 2000s. Hankee spoke well of both men, now deceased.
Tuohy, Hankee said, earned the respect of other priests and yet “was very down-to-earth. He wasn’t someone who held that authority over others.”
Another connection Hankee already had to Fortville is his sister-in-law, Alyssa Kirby Hankee, a Mt. Vernon High School graduate. He said she filled him in about Fortville before he came.
He’s found the community welcoming — even more than he’d anticipated. A fellow pastor in town stopped by to introduce himself, and parish members are already taking his dog, Maurice Napoleon Houndkee, for walks.
“What stands out to me the most … is just how hospitable everyone has been … how gracious and welcoming,” he said. “I enjoy living here.”
Hankee said he’s getting to know the people of the parish and thinking about who might also land there as Fortville grows.
“How to handle that growth and serve that growth — what’s our place in that?” he said. “I find that exciting … how that challenge will be approached.”
Mark Wirth thinks the Fortville parish will have a good relationship with Hankee. Wirth is part of the St. Maurice parish in Napoleon, where Hankee served from 2005-2010. Wirth has stayed in touch and even drove up for an evening Mass in July at St. Thomas.
Wirth said “Father Rob” was down-to-earth and related well to younger parishioners, even joining in a softball game or hitting golf balls in the yard with Wirth’s two sons. He also said the priest’s homilies were great and to the point.
“He would pack the place,” Wirth said. “Everybody enjoyed going to church to listen to him. …
“I consider Fortville lucky to have him.”
