Carol Koch, financial secretary of St. Joseph’s Church, is the great niece of an American missionary with a remarkable story from WWII. His name was Fr. Viktor Koch, C.P. (1873-1955) A native of Sharon—and a member of St. Rose of Lima, the parish that eventually became St. Joseph’s—Fr. Viktor traveled to Europe in 1922 to establish a new branch of his religious order, the Passionists. As a result, he witnessed the rise and fall of Nazi Germany behind enemy lines. His ministry and American values had a profound impact upon the Bavarian town of Schwarzenfeld and insulated its devout Catholic population from National Socialism. When American forces arrived in 1945 and threatened the village with reprisals, Fr. Viktor defended his flock from his own countrymen. His dramatic story is the basis of The Sower of Black Field, an award-winning historical fiction novel that Carol’s niece Katherine Koch published last year.

Join us on May 28th at 6:30 PM for a Zoom presentation, “Fr. Viktor Koch, C.P., The Sower of Black Field.” Author and historian Katherine Koch is our guest speaker, and Fr. Power and Carol Koch will be our hosts. Katherine will discuss the life experiences in Sharon that shaped this spiritual hero and the dramatic events that occurred in the final days of the war. Learn more about our Catholic past—and about an ancestor who hails from our very own parish.