DIOCESE—Father David Engbarth retired effective April 7.

Born in Rockford, the son of Joseph Engbarth and Frances Giovingo, he attended St. Anthony Parish Grade School and Boylan Central Catholic High School, graduating in 1967.

His college studies included St. Charles Borromeo Seminary/Lewis University in Lockport, Niles College Seminary at Loyola University in Chicago, St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore and completed his studies for the priesthood at Aquinas Institute of Theology in Dubuque, Iowa.

In 1984, he took bilingual and multi-cultural studies in Cuernavaca, Mexico, about 50 miles from Mexico City. He later studied for a few months at the School of Applied Theology in Oakland, Calif. (1991) and was on an educational sabbatical for part of 2005.

He was ordained to the priesthood on Nov. 20, 1976, by Bishop Arthur J. O’Neill.

Father Engbarth’s first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish in Sterling. In 1979, he began service as parochial vicar at Holy Angels Parish in Aurora.

After his studies in Mexico, he was assigned as parochial vicar at St. Joseph Parish in Elgin and became pastor there in 1986.

In 1993, he became sacramental moderator at St. Nicholas Parish in Aurora, and became its pastor in 1996. In 2000, he also began service as pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Aurora, serving both parishes until 2003, then continuing at St. Nicholas until his 2005 sabbatical.

From January 2006 until that July, Father Engbarth served as parochial vicar at St. Andrew Parish in Rock Falls. He then became administrator at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Aurora, and was made pastor there in 2007.

Additionally, Father Engbarth served as vice president of the board of directors of Centro de Informacion y Progreso of Elgin, elected to that position in 1987 when he was pastor of St. Joseph Church there.

In 2008, the Kane County Sheriff’s Department in Geneva named him the 2008 Kane County Citizen of the Year, presenting him with the Roscoe Ebey Award that November.