Father Patrick Griffin, 79, who served across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 41 years of active ministry, died Dec. 8 at Catholic Eldercare in Minneapolis.

He grew up on a farm south of the Twin Cities near Shieldsville, went to high school at Bethlehem Academy in Faribault, attended The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul and was ordained Feb. 18, 1967.

Father Patrick Griffin

Growing up in a small, rural Irish community helped form who he was, providing “a lens on the world of … hard work,” said Michael Griffin, Father Griffin’s nephew and a member of St. Olaf in Minneapolis. “You made your own fun, you cared for each other, you built community, you helped each other,” he said.

Griffin said his uncle served compass points across the archdiocese, from St. Pascal Baylon on the east side of St. Paul, north to St. Timothy in Blaine and south at Risen Savior in Apple Valley. He served at St. Stephen in Minneapolis for many years and retired from the former St. Philip parish in Minneapolis.

He began his priesthood as assistant pastor of St. Andrew in St. Paul (1967), assistant pastor at St. Pascal Baylon in St. Paul (1967-1972) and as a faculty member at The Saint Paul Seminary (1972-1973). He was associate pastor at Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul (1974-1975), associate pastor at St. Timothy in Blaine (1975-1981) and acting parish priest there from 1981-1983. Father Griffin was pastor at Risen Savior in Burnsville (1983-1988), pastor at St. Stephen in Minneapolis (1988-2004), canonical administrator at Risen Christ Catholic School (1998-2004), pastor at St. Anne in Minneapolis (2004-2005), parochial vicar at St. Anne/St. Joseph Hien in Minneapolis (2005-2006) and pastor at the former St. Philip in Minneapolis (2004-2008).

Growing up in the 1930s and 1940s, material wealth was not a big part of his uncle’s life. “So, they appreciated … people as front and center,” Griffin said. “And also, a really strong sense of inclusivity — the feeling that the Church needed to constantly find ways to welcome people of all stripes and walks of life, and in order to build and be the kind of community that the Gospel called for.”

Griffin said his uncle’s ordination occurred during “the formative years of the Second Vatican Council.” He imagined Father Griffin would describe that as an amazing time, “a little bit scary sometimes … but (he) wanted to make sure that people didn’t feel lost or left out of all the kind of upheaval of change that was happening, both in the Church and in the secular world as well.” Griffin said he believes it shaped his uncle’s approach to pastoral ministry.

Father Griffin officially retired in 2008 but continued to serve for about six years at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. He celebrated a morning Mass on Fridays and other Masses on weekends, and heard confessions. Father John Bauer, the Basilica’s pastor and rector, said he got to know Father Griffin years before that, when Father Griffin served at St. Stephen in Minneapolis and Father Bauer served at St. Therese in Deephaven.

Father Griffin was a good preacher, presider and confessor, and reminded him of John’s Gospel when Jesus saw Nathaniel, Father Bauer said. “He said, ‘there is no guile in this man.’ (Father Griffin) was as genuine as they come.”

Father Bauer recalled Father Griffin as always smiling, and people commenting on that. “He always had a smile on his face and was able to laugh at himself and his own foibles, and in his homilies, he would poke fun of (himself).”

In addition to his nephew, Father Griffin is survived by his brother, John, his sister, Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Sheila Griffin, and many other nephews, nieces, relatives and friends.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda will celebrate a funeral Mass 10 a.m. Dec. 16 at St. Patrick in Shieldsville. The Mass will be livestreamed from the funeral home’s website, ParkerKohlFuneralHome.com. A public memorial will be held at a later date.

Father Griffin will be interred at the church cemetery, where generations of his family are buried.