In this file photo from 2014, Father Timothy Nolan stands in his residence at Pacem in Terris hermitage retreat center near Isanti.

In this file photo from 2014, Father Timothy Nolan stands in his residence at Pacem in Terris hermitage retreat center near Isanti. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Just three years into his priesthood, Father Timothy Nolan was questioning his vocation and wondering if he should leave.

But a charismatic prayer meeting transformed his life and led to five more decades of Spirit-led ministry, including the founding of St. Paul in Ham Lake in 1981 and a key role in establishing a thriving retreat center. It was on the grounds of that retreat center, Pacem in Terris near Isanti (just within the boundaries of the Diocese of St. Cloud), that Father Nolan died Aug. 20. He was 82 and had been living at the retreat center in his retirement.

Funeral visitations and vigil service were set for 4-8 p.m. Aug. 27 and an 11 a.m. Aug. 28 funeral Mass, both at St. Paul, the parish he pastored for more than two decades. An overnight vigil also was planned in the chapel. The vigil service and Mass will be livestreamed on the parish website. Interment will be at Resurrection Cemetery in Mendota Heights.

In a video testimony he shared with St. Patrick in Oak Grove in October 2020, Father Nolan said he “ran out of gas” in 1970 and became “quite discouraged” about the priesthood after seeing some priests leave the ministry after the Second Vatican Council. He was “not at all a happy priest” and felt something more was needed.

He had heard about charismatic prayer meetings and the “baptism of the Holy Spirit,” and decided to find out for himself. He was prayed over after a meeting that night, which sparked a lifelong ministry of living, spreading and talking about “one of my favorite subjects of all time — the Holy Spirit,” he said.

His passion for the Holy Spirit and the fruit of his years of helping others experience the power of the Holy Spirit were observed and admired by people like Tim Drake, executive director of Pacem in Terris. Drake began going to retreats at Pacem about 15 years ago, then applied for the executive director job in 2017. Father Nolan, as president of the board of directors, became his boss in September of that year, and eventually became a close friend.

“Over the last several months, my wife and I would have Father over almost weekly,” said Drake, who discovered Father Nolan’s body the afternoon of Aug. 20, after the priest died that morning of natural causes. “And, we were enjoying this program called ‘The Chosen’ together. He just loved it because it told the story of Christ in such a vibrant, new way. And so, we found ourselves laughing together and crying together over the show. Father just had such a love for Christ. And, that is what showed in everything that he did, whether he was celebrating Mass, or just carrying on a conversation with you or sharing a meal with you.”

Drake recalled a practice Father Nolan had at staff gatherings in which he would ask employees to share “Holy Spirit moments.” For Father Nolan’s life, one of them was starting the parish of St. Paul in Ham Lake. After serving as the archdiocesan liaison for the charismatic renewal for four years, Archbishop John Roach asked him to start a new parish in Ham Lake, which he did in 1981. With parishioners working side by side, he led the building of a church in 1983-84, a structure that continues to be the parish home.

Naturally, Father Nolan incorporated charismatic praise and worship into parish life, along with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including the gift of tongues. He led the parish until his retirement in 2004, but continued to stay connected. The parish remains vibrant today, with numerous programs including its annual Living Stations, which draws in dozens of children and teens to play most roles in the performances that take place at the church every year during Lent.

Trudy Swanson Schreier joined the parish at the beginning and remembers attending Mass before the church was built. Father Nolan was installed as pastor on June 21, 1981, the feast of Corpus Christi, a Mass she attended. After one of the first Masses at the parish, he asked her to be an extraordinary minister of holy Communion.

“Afterwards, he called me back into a quiet little spot, and said, ‘So, tell me, how was that when you were holding Jesus?’” said Swanson Schreier, 75, who now lives in Perham with her husband, Glenn Schreier. “Something just came through me that I’ll never forget. It just brought tears to my eyes, like, ‘My gosh, I really was holding Jesus, and this is amazing.’”

She was part of a group Father Nolan called together “to pray and worship and listen to what God might be telling us.” She later helped form a Vacation Bible School at the parish, and started the Family Formation program, a catechesis model that has received national accolades. When her first husband, Keith Swanson, died in 2006, Father Nolan celebrated his funeral Mass, then went to Perham in 2012 to celebrate her wedding Mass. Glenn was brought into a friendship with Father Nolan, who led of a group of people who prayed over him for the Holy Spirit. The couple continued to spend time with Father Nolan, and joined a group of friends in Florida to celebrate his 80th birthday two years ago.

“Father taught me how to love like Jesus loves, to pray like Mary prays, to trust like the Apostles did, and to follow him like his disciples, and to be in the upper room and wait for Pentecost to come (and) let the Holy Spirit fall,” she said.

Although Father Nolan retired from St. Paul in 2004, he was a frequent visitor to the parish, which was always a welcome sight for parishioners and the current pastor, Father Jim Livingston, who was appointed to the parish nearly five years ago. Father Nolan especially liked coming to the parish on the feast of Pentecost, and was present this summer to celebrate the parish’s 40th anniversary.

“It’s been very wonderful to have his support and his constant encouragement and presence,” Father Livingston said. “In fact, when I first arrived, I made sure I got his blessing. And, I really felt very ready to start once I got that.”

Father Livingston saw Father Nolan “as not only a father figure but a big brother and a friend. Actually, I jokingly described him as Moses and me as Joshua.”

One of his favorite things about Father Nolan’s visits was listening to his homilies, which were filled with “such depth, and such peace and such wisdom and such kindness and joy,” Father Livingston said. “It was, honestly, like you were at the foot of the master when he began to speak. You felt like you were on retreat. That’s how I felt when he would come back and give a homily. Some of his expansive personality would come out, and you just felt like there was such an endless possibility of grace when he communicated the love of God. It was just amazing.”

Father Nolan, a St. Paul native, was ordained in 1967 and had three sisters who all joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In addition to St. Paul in Ham Lake, he also ministered at Good Shepherd in Golden Valley, St. Kevin in Minneapolis and St. John Vianney College Seminary at the University of St. Thomas.