 Fr. Christopher Hugo Moschini, OP
Christopher Hugo Moschini was born of Italian parentage in a border town between Italy and
Yugoslavia in1924. During the war, he was drafted into the Italian army, and
assigned to a railroad crew (as the fireman/coal shoveler). When Italy capitulated,
he was pressed into service by the German army. As Germany was falling, he was able
to desert, but as a consequence, spent some time in a prison camp. Lastly, as he was
making his way back home, he was conscripted into the new Yugoslav army. Eventually,
he fled the conscription and made his way to Rome, where he entered the Order in
1947. He came to St. Albert’s College soon
after, to take his studies, and was ordained in 1952. Although he served in West
Pittsburgh, CA and was Prior in Seattle, WA, he is best known for his many years at
McKenzie Bridge, OR.
A linguist and classicist, Fr. Moschini was as at home reading Homer
in Greek, slaughtering cows in a field at McKenzie Bridge, building a train by hand or
berating the students during summer camp for their incomprehensible ignorance. He
was one whose human experiences and common humanity allowed him to relate to just about
everyone (except fools, which he did not easily suffer) – the unchurched,
non-Catholics, fallen away Catholics, the simple and sophisticated, as well as with the
parishioners and friends of McKenzie Bridge whom he loved and served. He could be,
and often was, ornery, gruff, and difficult, but was always one who enjoyed immensely the
company of the brethren (if not for overly prolonged periods); he was stubborn, but never
opinionated – he loved the truth and the search for truth too much for that; he was
nostalgic for things past (especially Latin and Dominican Rite things) but never romantic
– he was too close to the earth and to life for that.
Truth be told, Chris was not a pious man by temperament, not by a long shot, but he was
a Christian, a Dominican, and a priest by calling and conviction and commitment.
What he was, by temperament and conviction, was unmistakably, genuinely, deeply human and
it was that unmistakable humanity which gave color and ground and texture to his
Christianity, his Dominican vocation, his priesthood. The gift of that humanity will be
sorely missed by those of us who were deeply influenced by it.
- Fr. Edward Krasevac, OP
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