Father Michael A. Vogt, a professed member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales for 19 years, died Dec. 27. He was 66.
A viewing will be held Jan. 7 from 10-11 a.m. at the Chapel of Our Lady of Light at the DeSales Centre, 1120 Blue Ball Road, Childs, Md. The Mass of Christian Burial begins at 11. Burial will be in the Oblate Cemetery.
Father Vogt was a Philadelphia native who graduated from Oblate-run Northeast Catholic High School. He entered the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and made his first profession of vows in 1979, but he left the community after a period of discernment and continued his priestly formation with the Diocese of Allentown, Pa. However, as his ordination neared, he had second thoughts.
In a 2012 interview with The Dialog, he explained his decision.
“Basically, I got cold feet and left,” he said. “I had some doubts about myself and my own worthiness. I guess you could say a lot of it was rethinking my life. I needed to step away and catch a breath.”
After leaving priestly formation, he taught high school in Philadelphia before moving to California, where he acted in commercials and worked in sales for CBS, according to the Oblates. He also ran two sober living facilities for men. In 2003, a priest friend asked Father Vogt to help him as a pastoral associate at his parish. He then realized he still felt called to ordained ministry, the Oblates said. About a year later, he was accepted back into the Oblate community.
“No matter what I did, the call never went away,” he told The Dialog in 2012. “It was always on my shoulder.”
He arrived at Salesianum School in Wilmington in 2009 as a teacher, and in 2012, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Francis Malooly in the gymnasium at Salesianum in front of the entire student body, along with friends and family and others. Father Vogt saw this as another way to be able to teach about the faith.
At the ordination, the students gave the new priest, whom they affectionately called “Rev,” a standing ovation, and Father Vogt circled the gymnasium to thank the boys in a “victory lap” of sorts, according to a Dialog article. Dozens of students remained in the gym after the ordination to be blessed by Father Vogt.
Salesianum senior A.J. Campli told The Dialog after the ordination that Father Vogt was “huge to the school. We basically dedicated Feast Week (celebrating the school’s patron, St. Francis de Sales) to the ordination, and it was really cool to see it happen.”
He left Salesianum in 2016 to become the religious superior of the Oblate community at the DeSales Center in Childs, Md., and he was the chaplain of Mount Aviat Academy. Three years later, Father Vogt moved to Naples, Fla., as an associate pastor, and in 2021, he moved back to the Diocese of Wilmington to be part of the leadership team caring for the Oblates at Buckley and Annecy halls in Childs. He also helped out at local parishes and was a chaplain at the Jeanne Jugan Residence in Newark.
At the time of his death, he was back in Naples, where he spent the month of December assisting at St. Ann’s Parish.
Father Vogt was predeceased by his father, Albert. He is survived by his mother, Mary, and brothers Larry and Greg and their families. Donations to the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales in his name can be made at https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E12206&id=27.
