Thanks ‘bee’ to God: beekeeper honored for service as catechist

By Dan Russo

Witness Editor

ELGIN — On a sunny Saturday morning recently, Bob Fassbinder and his wife, Kathy, were surrounded by a ­chorus of buzzing bees as he held up a hive full of honey. Running his fingers over the perfect hexagonal shapes made by the small insects to catch a drop of this year’s crop for a taste test, he couldn’t contain his enthusiasm.

“This is part of God’s creation right here, and this is one of the most beautiful things he ever did was to make the honey bee, and we just stumbled on to it, right dear?” said the professional beekeeper as he glanced at this wife. “One honey bee for our garden in Des Moines and from there (to this).”

The Fassbinders, members of St. Peter Parish in Clermont, are owners of Fassbinder Apiaries, a beekeeping business with its headquarters near Elgin. The couple are also active members of their church, where Kathy sings in the choir and Bob has been a volunteer catechist to middle and high school students for 40 years and counting. Bob was recently honored for his service teaching the faith at a special Mass concelebrated by Father Dale Rausch and Archbishop Michael Jackels. His four children and seven grandchildren attended, along with a large contingent of the local Catholic community. At a reception afterward, the parish presented him with a statue of St. Francis, two custom engraved stones and about 50 letters from former students thanking him.

“It was impressive,” recalled Fassbinder. “They sprung a surprise for me. It was on Father’s Day. I’m grateful for my church.”

The parish also thanked Kathy “who has patiently assisted Bob in his ministry with a listening ear, loving support, encouraging counsel, and by feeding many kids over the years with treats and meals.”

“In addition, we are grateful for how much Kathy has enriched worship for all of us at St. Peter’s with her commitment to music ministry,” read a statement from Mary Olson, St. Peter’s coordinator of religious education.

Olson has worked with Fassbinder for years and witnessed his talents in the classroom.

“(Bob) is able to form a relationship with all types of children,” said Olson. “His curriculum is just from his heart. The Holy Spirit just comes through him. I think the kids learn through that more than out of a book.”

After growing up on a farm near his home parish, Fassbinder served on submarines in the U.S. Navy. He met his wife, a Cedar Rapids native, while studying at Iowa State University. Graduating with degrees in engineering and nutrition, respectively, the couple married and moved to Des Moines. The farm boy didn’t take to big city life. While there, he and his wife developed an interest in beekeeping and eventually planned to start a business near Bob’s hometown.  In 1976, the Fassbinders moved back to northeast Iowa, finding a place in the country off a gravel road. They took a risk starting an apiaries operation (the technical term for a bee colony).

“It was an adjustment, but oh, it’s beautiful,” said Kathy.

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Coming from city life into the country to raise bees, Kathy Fassbinder  explains, has had a profound effect on the spiritual life of her and her husband.

“It makes you aware of the different flowers that are out there, the trees  that maybe we would have been too busy to really pay attention to otherwise, not thinking they were all that important,” she said. “I think previous to being in the bees we would have taken much more for granted and not even been thankful for it. We really need to be thankful for a beautiful world.”

Bob spends a lot of time in nature, either tending to his hives at 60 different locations up and down the Turkey and Volga rivers or as a hunter. He has used this connection to creation as a teaching tool.

“Going back to a classroom, when you teach the kids the four reasons to pray — one of them is praise,” he said. “When you just step out on a day like today when all the things are blooming  and I’m watching the bees work and doing their things, I can’t help but say, ‘God, this is beautiful. This is fantastic. You are doing your best work when you did this right here.’”

In 1977, shortly after starting the family business, Bob was recruited in his early 30s to teach the faith at St. Peter’s to middle school and high school teens. In 1980, he was made director of religious education (DRE). Now in his 70s, he currently works with ninth and 10th graders who stick with him through a two-year confirmation prep program.

Back when he started, things didn’t always go smoothly. It was a struggle keeping the students’ attention and maintaining discipline in the classroom. After a particularly rough time with one class, he witnessed a pair of Catholic sisters come to the parish to do a summer school Bible camp. One young sister with a guitar was able to take a few young men he was having trouble with and get them to willingly and happily participate in the camp.

“I said, “Sister, I’ve got to know how you do this,’” recalled Fassbinder. “She said, ‘All you have to do is show them that you believe that this is holy stuff.’ That’s all (she had) to say, because I was like the Pharisees preaching the rules and the regulations and the letter of the law and I was missing the whole point. But it didn’t just come automatically. After that I started searching for curriculum.”

The summer school moment was a turning point in Fassbinder’s ministry as a catechist, but it took a while for him to find the best way to reach his students.

“As DRE, I had a lot of input into the curriculum we used,” reflected Fassbinder. “I kept searching for curriculum to keep them excited. I never found one that could fit. Finally, I just gave it all up on published curriculum, and I just started using life stories that applied to their lives … It seemed the best way I could get them into it was true stories of life that applied to them or movies. The discipline problems I had early on went away … I actually think as the years went on, it actually gets easier.”

Fassbinder still uses books, videos and other traditional resources when appropriate, but for the foundation of his classes he uses stories from his experiences as a Navy veteran, father, beekeeper, former wrestling coach and so on.

There is also some cross over between his business and parish work.

Many of his students come to work for him during the August honey harvest when they are in high school and college.

“Many of the kids who are working here want to have bees of their own because they see the beauty of them,” he said.

His students and family are helping him with another project — the effort to save the bees from extinction through breeding and developing sustainable practices with farmers. Around 2008, the bee population in North America experienced what is known as “colony collapse” due to four major factors: a mite from Asia which began harming local bee hives, habitat loss, pesticides and four different viruses spread by the mites.

As a result of the colony collapse, the continent lost most of the two million wild swarms of bees in North America. To maintain the domesticated populations and reintroduce wild bees, the Fassbinders are raising their own queen bees and experimenting with hearty bee breeds from around the nation and world that could have a better chance at survival. The role bees play in pollinating food crops is essential, so the Fassbinders are passionate about their work.

“One third of our food supply comes from what they (bees) do, and I think we need to pay attention to what they’re doing,” said Bob.

Fassbinder is as serous about passing on the faith as he is about keeping bees. He plans to continue teaching as long as he canand already has someone in mind to take over for him when he retires. He says the key to being a good catechist is simple.

“You have to show them this is what you believe and that it is important to be happy,” said Fassbinder. “You’ve got (to make the students) realize that happiness is the product of a meaningful life and to be happy, you’ve got to be doing something meaningful, and not just for yourself. It’s service.”

Photos: 

Bob Fassbinder, a member of St. Peter Parish, Clermont, holds a hive of bees from one of his apiaries near Elgin.

(Photo by Dan Russo/The Witness)

Bob Fassbinder (left) with Archbishop Michael Jackels at the Father’s Day Mass June 17. 

(Contributed photo)