Father Ted's Memoir
"When The Wolves Came - A Memoir", written by Father Ted Pfeifer in 2007 and 2008, chronicles his life from his roots in south Texas through his life as a missionary to Oaxaca, Mexico. The book is 72 pages long and contains a forward by Bishop Michael Pfeifer, Father Ted's younger brother, and an introduction by J. Michael Parker, the former religion writer for the San Antonio Express News. The book sold out the initial printing of 300 copies and a second printing was made in early 2010. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book, please visit the Contact Us page for more info.
Father Ted Pfeifer's book is now available in a Kindle e-book version and can be purchased online at Amazon.com
[From the Introduction by J. Michael Parker} The parable of the Good Shepherd in the Gospel of St. John is well known. It is an apt lesson for any minister of the Gospel. This autobiography describes a humble Texan's preparation, decision and lifelong commitment to live that lesson in a radical way, serving a remote mountain people most of the world has forgotten. This is the very charism that has distinguished his congregation of Religious men, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, since its founding by St. Eugene de Mazenod in 1816.
It was with good reason that Pope Pius XI in 1938 gave the Oblates a title of great respect: Specialists in Difficult Missions. Besides the usual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, Oblates make a fourth vow, handed down by St. Eugene: Pariter iureiurando voveo ad mortem usque perseveraturum (I will persevere even unto death).
Father Ted Pfeifer, OMI or 'Padre Francisco' as he was known in Mexico was no stranger to difficult missions by the early 1980s, having spent nearly twenty years laboring among the indigenous people of Oaxaca, southern Mexico. They knew only hardship, having few of the modern conveniences of life known in the First World. Then drug cartels arrived among the Chontal and Zapotec Indians in Oaxaca, bringing violence, terror and even death. These troubles became Father Ted's frequent companions as more than 150 families were devastated by the ruthless murders of loved ones.
Father Ted didn't just preach about good and evil; he spoke out in very strong, specific terms about the evil unfolding around him. For that, he was marked for death. Though scared, he took the Gospel parable of the Good Shepherd for his sustenance and refused to leave his people. He knew they had no escape from harm's way. He wondered why he deserved to retire to safety when they had no way to do so.
Only a stroke in the fall of 2007 at age 75 forced Father Ted to leave Mexico and return to San Antonio, Texas, where he had received his formation for the Oblate priesthood some fifty years earlier.
His personal story is of a piece with those of many other Oblates since the frontier days, when the Oblates in South Texas earned the famous nickname "The Cavalry of Christ" by proclaiming the Gospel in remote places where others could not or would not go. This is his contribution to that hallowed legacy.