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Photos by Erin Nelson.
A photograph of Monsignor Martin Muller, right, leading the transfer of the Monstrance, carried by Rev. Eric Gami, center, accompanied by members of the Knights of Columbus, from the chapel to the church in August 2022, from a scrapbook at the church office at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church. Muller has retired from Our Lady of Sorrows after decades of service to the church.
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Photos by Erin Nelson.
A photograph of Monsignor Martin Muller, left, and Rev. Frankline Fomukong during a farewell party for Fomukong in June 2022 from a scrapbook at the church office.
When Martin Muller was a young man attending Catholic school, he had a lot of aspirations — he thought he could enjoy being a doctor, an attorney, a carpenter or a priest.
But as he continued to serve in mass, he wrestled with the brevity of life and what he would do with his. In the midst of that, “the priesthood sort of grabbed a hold of me,” he said. “I wanted to use my life for my own salvation and the salvation of other people.”
Now, at 91, Muller has recently retired after 66 years of serving in what he calls “the most interesting and pleasant vineyards of the Lord.”
More than half of that time was spent as pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows in Homewood.
He said the opportunity to serve as pastor of the church was God’s doing, not his — he was just “at the right place at the right time.”
In the first season of his ministry, Muller taught Catholic high school religion classes for 26 years, moving from Mobile to Birmingham in 1960 to teach at John Carroll Catholic High School.
During that time, for 13 years he was also the moderator for the first Catholic television show in the area, “Ask Father Muller.” After that, for five years he led a televised mass for shut-ins, which he taped in the school chapel.
But in the early 1980s, Muller realized it was time for him to leave teaching, and thus the televised mass. The timing was perfect for him to hand off that baton, he said — Mother Angelica had been leading a weekly program on the same channel as his mass, and when she decided to launch her own network, EWTN, a televised mass was a perfect place for her to start.
In 1983, Muller became the associate pastor at Our Lady of Sorrows, and six years later he became the church’s pastor. He was tasked right away with turning around the church school, which was in “a nosedive,” he said.
But God provided, Muller said. The school gained some momentum, started a foundation and in 1991, the Angelo Bruno family stepped in with a generous gift to renovate the school, which “gave us a great impetus,” he said.
The school now has a $23 million foundation.
“I give all the credit to God,” Muller said.
Over the years, Our Lady of Sorrows has built other buildings for the church and renovated the gym. They also started a Perpetual Adoration chapel, where someone has been praying at every hour around the clock for more than 30 years. It’s all been a work close to Muller’s heart, and he’s loved the community the church serves.
“I love Homewood; I don’t want to leave,” Muller said.
And he’s not planning on it, even now that he’s retiring.
“They said I can stay in my basement room at Our Lady of Sorrows,” Muller said.
His successor, Father Bob Sullivan, is a former student, and as far as serving at the church goes, he told Muller, “You can do as much as you like or as little as you like.”
Muller jokes that he’s taking an “early” retirement so he can have time to do the things he’s been putting off, such as more writing — he’s written around 20 books during his years of ministry. Before he writes any more books, he plans to spend the first two weeks of his retirement writing thank-you notes.
But Kara Barlow, bookkeeper at Our Lady of Sorrows, said Muller is the one who deserves all the thanks. She said it would take hours to share all the ways he has made an impact.
“He’s been there for so long, he’s been a part of people’s lives from the time they were born, when they went to school, got married and had children of their own,” she said. “There have been generations of families he’s been an integral part of.”
Barlow said they know his favorite sayings by heart — wisdom like, “God writes straight with crooked lines,” meaning that God always has a plan, it just might not look like what a person expects.
She said he’s also made an impact on the Homewood community through his generosity and love over the years, and his outreach has resulted in many people coming to faith over the years.
“We’re so grateful that God let him stay where he was,” Barlow said.
