As the Rev. Aloysius Nondorf, Jr., sat on a couch in his sister's living room, reflecting on his 50 years of priesthood, a cell phone rang.

The 79-year-old Nondorf reached in his pocket and pulled out a flat, silver phone. He flipped it open, talked a few seconds and put it away.

More than just technology has changed in the past 50 years, when priests said Mass in Latin and women were required to cover their hair in church.

"Looking back, it's like the difference between night and day, black and white," said the Rev. Lawrence Heeg.

Nondorf and Heeg were among the first four men ordained as priests in the newly formed Gary Diocese 50 years ago.

One of the biggest changes Heeg has seen is the participation of lay people. For hundreds of years, there was a gap between the clergy and the laity. Decisions made during Vatican II in the 1960s changed that, especially the Mass translation into English.

"That wall between the priests and the laity was torn down," Heeg said.

Sunday, the Diocese of Gary will mark the 50th anniversary of its formation, when it split from what is now the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese.

Parishes in Lake, Porter, LaPorte and Starke counties feed into the Diocese of Gary.

But its impact reaches beyond Northwest Indiana.

Another member of the original group of ordained priests is now a bishop in Michigan. Bishop Carl Mengeling is the head of the Diocese of Lansing there. The Rev. Robert Charlebois, one of the first four priests, also left the area to serve.

Heeg, 76, is the only one of the original four still in the Region, most recently with St. Patrick's in Chesterton. Since retiring six years ago, Heeg has assisted at 19 parishes, partly because of a shortage of priests.

"We don't have the manpower," he said. "If a guy gets sick or wants to go on vacation, he's really hard pressed."

Heeg sees a lot of big changes ahead for the Catholic Church, including allowing priests to marry.

"That's a given," he said. "It's just a matter of time."

But he also fears what he sees as polarization in the Church, with extreme right and left attitudes.

"I just hope people don't start pushing to go backwards," Heeg said.

The first church Heeg worked at after his ordination had only 300 families. He knew everyone by their first name.

"You're going to have to have more of the smaller parishes coming together and sharing one priest," Heeg said. "We don't have the manpower anymore," he said.

For Nondorf, priesthood has taken him around the world.

In high school, he worked in the steel mills. Now he serves as chaplain for a girls academy in El Paso, Texas.

After high school, Nondorf enlisted in the Army and was stationed in Germany during World War II.

When he came home, he attended a men's retreat at the University of Notre Dame, where he decided to become a priest.

After serving at churches around the Region, Nondorf noticed a lot of his young parishioners were being drafted to Vietnam. So, he re-enlisted in the Army in 1967 as a chaplain. He was shot and earned a Purple Heart.

Five years later, he returned to the U.S., attended jump school and joined the 82nd Airborne, earning the nickname Father Tree Hanger.

Nondorf left the Army in 1993 but still works with the Army in Fort Bliss, Texas.

What he's learned from traveling across the world and meeting thousands of people is that people need to love each other as brother and sister.

"Love God, love your neighbor," he said.

Once people do that, everything will come together.

"I don't see a world that's just full of black," he said. "I see hope for our world."

About it:

The Diocese of Gary will celebrate its 50th anniversary Jubilee on Sunday in Gary with a concert, solemn Mass and festivities. About 7,000 people are expected to attend the celebration, which marks 50 years since the formation of the diocese when it split from what is now the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese.

If You Go:

A concert featuring musicians from parishes around the diocese will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Genesis Convention Center in Gary. Mass will follow there at 2 p.m. A Eucharistic procession will walk an eight-block route to the grounds of Holy Angels Cathedral, where the concluding rites of the Mass will be held. Shuttle buses will run from the Genesis Center to the cathedral for those who cannot walk in the procession. After Mass, entertainment will be held on two stages on the cathedral grounds, and vendors will sell food.