In Memoriam: Fr. Alexander Snyder

Father Alexander Snyder, a retired priest of the Diocese of Oakland, died Jan. 17. He was 91.

Father Snyder was born March 2, 1932, in Detroit. He was ordained for the Order of Friars Minor, Conv. on Feb. 22, 1959, in St. Paul, Minn. He came to the Diocese of Oakland in 1968 and was incardinated into the diocese five years later.

While his work with the friars was in education, he served in East Bay parishes: as assistant pastor at All Saints, Hayward (1968-70); Holy Spirit, Fremont (1970-73); St. Leo, Oakland (1973-75); and St. Cornelius, Richmond (1975-77).

He became pastor of St. Anne in Union City in 1977. Six years later, he became assistant pastor at St. Jerome, El Cerrito 1983-85.

Father Snyder was appointed pastor of St. David Parish in Richmond, where he served from 1985-92. His last assignment as pastor, at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, San Leandro, began in 1992. He retired from pastoral responsibilities in 1998.

In retirement, he served when needed as temporary administrator at St. Patrick, Rodeo (1999); Santa Maria, Orinda (2000); and St. Agnes, Concord (2005).

Father Snyder served as director of cemeteries from 1973 to 1979.
Father Snyder is remembered for mentoring and supporting seminarians who had come from Vietnam, who remember him with gratitude. He is remembered, too, for celebrating Mass every day he was able.
Father Snyder’s Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Jan. 30 at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, 2500 Bermuda Ave., San Leandro. Viewing will be at 10:30 a.m. Interment at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward will follow at a later date.

On the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of his ordination, Father Snyder wrote for The Catholic Voice in 2009:

“Pope Benedict writes: ‘The priest preaches not himself, but the faith of the Church and, in that faith, the Lord Jesus Christ … The holiness of the priest consists in the process of becoming spiritually poor, of decreasing before the other, of losing himself for the other: For Christ — and in Christ, for others;. For those whom the Lord and entrusted to him.’

“Fifty years looking forward seems like a long time. Fifty years looking backward is such a short time. To celebrate 50 years in the ministerial priesthood is a great event. This is not for personal glory, but the grace to show Christ to others. God does not choose the qualified, but he qualifies those whom he has chosen. I hope that others have learned from me as much as I have learned from them how to follow Christ. Fifty years is but a moment in the life of the Church, but what a glorious moment. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.”