Over the last two years, about a dozen priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have retired, many after actively serving more than 30 years. To mark their retirement, The Catholic Spirit interviewed 10 of the priests about some of their experiences and plans for the near future.
Father Rodger Bauman
Learning from those he served
Father Rodger Bauman served in five parishes during his 39 years of priesthood, beginning as an assistant priest of St. Edward in Bloomington and retiring as pastor of Guardian Angels in Oakdale. He learned from others every step of the way, he said.
“It has been a wonderful journey of discovery. I have been truly blessed in my life and my ministry through the people I have encountered along the way, who have both supported and challenged me,” Father Bauman said.
From early on in his priesthood, when he served first at St. Edward in Bloomington and then Holy Spirit in St. Paul, Father Bauman said he discovered how serving in a parish puts a priest directly in touch with people from all walks of life whose personal stories and experiences helped him grow in his notion of “Church.”
“In my first two assignments I had the good fortune of serving with pastors who modeled servant leadership, which I tried to emulate when I assumed the role of pastor,” Father Bauman said. “I also had the privilege of serving with many wonderful professional ministers and parish staffs, whose dedicated service to the Church was both inspiring and critical in realizing the parish’s mission.”
Father Bauman, who also served at St. Peter in Richfield and St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake, said he discovered how important lay leadership is in the life of a parish. Heeding the call to serve, so many people offered their gifts in support of their church, he said.
“Often their hard work, collective wisdom and genuine concern for the community helped provide needed direction and stability,” Father Bauman said. “And of course, the many parishioners who faithfully participated in liturgies, programs, events and supported their parish even during some of the more trying times of the Church’s recent history. Remarkable people who continually inspired me and helped me grow in my appreciation and understanding of the beautiful mystery which is the Body of Christ.”
In retirement, Father Bauman said he hopes to continue to serve a parish community but without the responsibilities that come with being pastor.
“I look forward to whatever God invites me to consider in retirement, trusting it will lead me and others to Christ,” he said.
— Maura Keller
Seeking contemplation
To Father Gerald Dvorak, retirement is “a new adventure,” a time for discovery and a new horizon. “It’s going to be fun,” he said.
“I always saw (priesthood) as a beautiful gift, ministry, to be able to share with people their communion, their walk with Jesus,” he said. “I loved teaching RCIA classes. I loved the sacraments, especially penance.” And seeing “first Communion kids” grow older.
Father Dvorak, 67, said he hopes retirement brings a more contemplative dimension to his priesthood — including more prayerfulness, more spiritual reading, and participating in retreats and days of recollection for priests, sisters and laypeople. He described days of recollection as “little retreat days” that a priest may offer that deals with a theme, includes time to pray and, often, time for confession. Presently, he is working on days of recollection focused on St. Joseph, as the Church honors the Year of St. Joseph.
He called the contemplative dimension “kind of exciting.” “It’s one aspect of ministry I always enjoyed, but being a pastor, it was just too busy to do some of that.”
At the same time, he expects to continue helping with parish ministry, and awaits where he is most needed. It will be a challenge, he said, to fine tune the balance of a more contemplative life with ministry.
Known for his collection of nearly 250 Nativity scenes, Father Dvorak is not certain whether it will be exhibited this year, but retirement gives him more time to inventory it.
And getting a new puppy will kick-start Father Dvorak’s retirement. Rocco, a border collie named after St. Roch, the patron saint of dogs and dog lovers, will soon join the sheltie, Jaco, whom he called his “shadow.”
Father Dvorak retired Aug. 17 after serving St. Peter in Richfield for 10 years. He previously served the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Holy Cross in Minneapolis, Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Minneapolis, the Legion of Mary (St. Paul Comitium), Holy Cross in Minneapolis, St. Andrew in St. Paul, St. Michael in West St. Paul, St. Joseph in Hopkins and Blessed Trinity School in Richfield.
— Barb Umberger
Father Michael Ince
‘It’s been a blessing’
After 57 years of ministry, Father Michael Ince said he meets couples celebrating 50-year anniversaries and is reminded that he presided at their weddings. Or people who say, “we used to have a priest by that name” — “as if I had been dead and gone,” he said.
Father Ince, 85, who retired July 1, said he has enjoyed every assignment and ministry over the years. And the people. “It’s been a blessing,” he said.
That’s included two assignments in St. Paul and three parishes in the greater Twin Cities metro area. But for the past 30 years he has served St. Andrew in Elysian and Holy Trinity in Waterville — smaller towns east of Mankato. Despite his retirement, Father Ince said he will continue to celebrate Mass and hear confessions, and will be available for counseling and helping out as needed, at those two parishes and likely neighboring ones. “I have a wedding coming up,” he said.
An avid fisherman, he enjoys living in a region of Minnesota with 50 lakes within 25 miles. “There’s a lot I haven’t tried yet,” he said. “I love to fish,” especially for sunfish, which he calls “the cream of the crop.”
“There’s a good lake every year,” he said. “You just need to figure out where the fish are biting.”
Before Holy Trinity and St. Andrew, Father Ince served at St. John the Baptist in Hugo; Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Bloomington; Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights; Holy Spirit in St. Paul; and St. Agnes in St. Paul.
“I guess it all comes back to … there is nothing else I would sooner be doing” (than being a priest), he said.
— Barb Umberger
Sharing Jesus’ ‘good news’
Eleven years prior to his ordination, Father Thomas Kommers had returned to the U.S. after serving in Vietnam as an Army first lieutenant in a combat photography unit. When he left the military, he moved from the Twin Cities to Reston, Virginia. As an unmarried lay person, he became active in a newly emerging Catholic community.
“On the Fourth of July, 1973, while sharing a picnic at the home of some parishioners, a group of them gathered around me and said: “All of us have talked about it and we think you should be a priest!”
He followed through on what the people of St. Thomas a’ Becket in Reston and others told him. He was ordained May 31, 1980, for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
During his 41 years in active ministry, there were two significant elements that brought Father Kommers great joy: First was presiding at Mass to “break open” God’s word by sharing Jesus’ “good news” and to serve as ‘“alter Christus’ (another Christ) consecrating the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ as nourishment for their souls.”
“The second is the opportunity of being with parishioners at very significant moments in their lives, both sad and joyous moments, and all the rituals, prayers, and sacraments that accompany these life events,” said Father Kommers, who served at St. Joseph in New Hope, St. Timothy in Blaine, St. Thomas Becket in Eagan and St. Joseph in Red Wing.
In his retirement, Father Kommers, 76, said hopes to “take a deep breath” and step back from parish administration, renew and refresh his life of prayer, read the stacks of spiritual and secular books he has purchased, but, most of all, he wants to be helpful to his brother priests.
“With all humility, I am reasonably content with the notion that I have been useful to the Creator in employing the intelligence, skills, and talents given me to help bring about (ever more fully) God’s reign on this earth,” Father Kommers said. “And I have strived to encourage many women, men, teens and children to develop a deep, personal relationship with Jesus, our loving Lord and savior, and to trust in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.”
— Maura Keller
Father Thomas Krenik
Continuing to grow
In 44 years of active ministry, Father Thomas Krenik served at six parishes, as canonical administrator of a Catholic school, and at The St. Paul Seminary in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Most recently, he served 10 years as pastor of Risen Savior in Burnsville.
One of the biggest highlights of four decades of ministry: presiding at Sunday Mass.
“It became the most important thing I did,” Father Krenik said. “That is when the priest has the most contact with the most people. The Eucharist confirms our collective identity as members of the Body of Christ. It is also a wonderful formative experience as we are affected by the word of God, the presence of the risen Christ, and our communal prayer and singing.”
It also has been a grace to accompany parishioners in significant moments in their lives with an eye to pointing them to Christ, who loves, leads, heals and forgives, Father Krenik said.
During the last couple of years Father Krenik has been struck by Psalm 92 in morning prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours. The psalm speaks of people continuing to flourish and bear fruit as they grow older, like a palm tree planted in the house of the Lord.
“That is my biggest hope during retirement — to continue to grow personally and spiritually,” said Father Krenik, who has made several travel plans, including seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time and enjoying ocean cruises. He hopes to catch up on reading and looks forward to helping in parishes to celebrate the sacraments.
As Father Krenik moved on from each assignment — which included serving at St. Stephen in Anoka; St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park; Maternity of Mary in St. Paul; St. Timothy in Blaine; and St. Richard and Blessed Trinity School, both in Richfield — he would tell people how they helped him grow spiritually and personally with their support and challenges.
“The way I like to think of this is that the experience of ministry is formative. A newly ordained priest does not come out of the seminary as a finished product,” Father Krenik said. “God continues to work on us directly and through other people.‘God is not finished with me yet,’ as the saying goes. The clay is still moist.”
— Maura Keller
Father Paul Moudry
Sharing others’ great joy, profound grief
After serving seven parishes and a Catholic school since being ordained in 1987, Father Paul Moudry said he is retiring with gratitude for all the blessings he has received.
“I have been abundantly blessed to have served as a priest to and with the people of God over the past 34 years,” Father Moudry said. “I was given the sacred privilege of being invited into peoples’ lives in times of great joy and profound grief. I was also fortunate to have served with many talented and faith-filled team members ministering with and to one another.”
Father Moudry began his ministry as an assistant priest of Annunciation in Minneapolis and went on to serve as an assistant priest of St. Thomas the Apostle and St. Mark in St. Paul and as a pastor of Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights and St. Margaret Mary in Minneapolis. He also was a canonical administrator of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School in Hastings and parochial administrator of St. Francis Cabrini and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, both in Minneapolis.
At Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Father Moudry worked with the parish’s ministry to the deaf community of the archdiocese — a role that inspired him throughout his four years there.
“God called me to be a parish priest, I loved it, and continue to thank God for the gift of my vocation. In every parish, I loved and was loved, I forgave and was forgiven, I cared and was embraced,” Father Moudry said. “I will never be able to count the blessings nor measure the grace I have received from the people in each parish.”
Father Moudry said he frequently reminded parishioners that the power in a parish is the Holy Spirit. “Our job is to pray, listen, trust and follow in faith,” he said. “As I move into retirement, I believe the Holy Spirit will direct me into and throughout this next chapter of my life.”
— Maura Keller
Father Phillip Rask
A meaningful journey
Since his ordination in1972, Father Phillip Rask has impacted the lives of countless people in his love of Christ, a love that he said began when he attended grade school and became interested in becoming a priest.
Serving from Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights to instructor and rector at The Saint Paul Seminary in St. Paul, from Presentation of the Virgin Mary in Maplewood to St. Odilia in Shoreview and the chancery, Father Rask said his journey has been a long, meaningful one.
“It has been so wonderful working with so many people in their spirituality and faith. And getting to know a lot of families in their important moments in their life’s journey,” Father Rask said.
At St. Odilia, Father Rask said enjoyed the large number of passionately involved parishioners, lay leadership and extremely competent staff.
“It not only made my role easier, but it made it fun,” he said.
In his farewell homily at St. Odilia, Father Rask said he recalled that in his first sermon as pastor of that parish, he answered a question, “What is your vision for this parish?”
“I said then that I see this parish as a community of disciples, characterized by a union of hearts and minds in following Jesus the Lord and in doing the work he has given us to do in this world,” Father Rask said. “I said that this means that we pray together, work together, learn together, and laugh together,” taking up Christ’s cross and learning “together that it is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.”
Father Rask said doesn’t have a long list of retirement plans, but he is determined to further his studies, including reading the Psalms in Hebrew and “The Odyssey” in Greek.
“It has been said that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans for your life,”
Father Rask said. “I’ve learned in my nearly 50 years of priestly ministry that perhaps I should simply try to discern what God was calling me to do next rather than spend a lot of time formulating my own plans.”
— Maura Keller
Father Larry Snyder
A ‘yes’ to the unexpected bears fruit
Father Larry Snyder expected to be a parish priest all his life, but in 1991, then-Archbishop John Roach asked him to consider serving Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The archbishop said he could try it for six months and could always go back to serving a parish, Father Snyder said.
“At six months, I had fallen in love with the social ministry of the Church,” he said, serving the local organization from 1991 to 2004, first as assistant to the director, then associate director. Father Snyder, 71, went on to serve Catholic Charities USA as president and chief executive officer for 10 years before his final assignment — vice president for mission at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, from 2015 until his retirement July 1.
Faith is at the core of his identity, he said, and to be able to express that through ordination and different leadership roles in the Church has been an amazing way to use his talents at the service of others.
Father Snyder recalled one Christmas Eve when he celebrated Mass in the afternoon for the homeless at the Dorothy Day Center, followed by early evening Mass with prisoners at the Lino Lakes Correctional Facility, where he served as chaplain, and later, a midnight Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle in Minneapolis, where he was assisting with ministry at the time.
Retirement for Father Snyder will mean staying active in ministry, including helping out regularly at Carondelet Village in St. Paul, filling in at parishes when priests are on sabbatical, and “wherever help is needed.”
He also looks forward to more time for personal interests including music, gardening, cooking and animals. “I always have two dogs,” he said. “I’m delighted now in retirement I can put more time and focus on these areas as well.”
Before his work at Catholic Charities, Father Snyder served Epiphany in Coon Rapids and Nativity of Mary in Bloomington.
— Barb Umberger
Father Michael Van Sloun
A companion on the pilgrimage to God
Father Michael Van Sloun said he was a high school teacher when he recognized the strong ways that God had been knocking on his door, urging him to consider the priesthood.
“I’ve never regretted it for a minute. Being a priest has been an incredible joy for me,” Father Van Sloun said. “For me, it is about being a companion with the people on the journey to God and on the pilgrimage of life.”
Father Van Sloun was ordained for the Closiers in 1995, and then became a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2006.
Joyful moments have included celebrating weddings, which he said have become more meaningful to him as he’s gotten older.
“When I started out, I could have been their older brother, but now I am the age of their parents, sometimes. And when they come down the aisle, many I have known since they were little kids. I never understood why people cried at weddings; now I do. It is just one of the most joyful events in their life and they have God at the center of it.”
Going through deaths of loved ones with people has had a profound effect, and experiencing Easter, Christmas and first Communions as a priest, said Father Van Sloun, who writes his monthly “Faith Fundamentals” column for The Catholic Spirit.
“When the whole family is together and we are celebrating the central mysteries of our faith, those are some of the best moments,” he said.
After serving as pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata for eight years, and St. Stephens in Anoka for 18 years prior to that, Father Van Sloun, 69, said he is extremely grateful that he now has two beautiful spiritual families.
Next up in retirement: leading retreats, writing and leading pilgrimages as he has in the past, to such places as Israel, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Turkey, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. He also looks forward to helping out in parishes.
“If there is anything that would be a legacy for me, it is if the people I served are closer to Jesus and if they can practice their faith in a more dynamic way,” he said. “Nothing can be more gratifying.”
— Maura Keller
Father Richard Villano
Touched by other’s holiness
After serving as pastor of St. Helena in south Minneapolis for 40 years, the decision of where to live in retirement was easy for Father Richard Villano — the rectory across the parking lot from the church.
He still remembers the day he saw the inside of St. Helena for the first time. In 1978, he was in his ninth year at St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, and was discussing with the parish’s pastor at the time, Father Francis Kittock, about where he might go next. There was an opening at St. Helena, and Father Villano agreed to go take a look.
“I had no idea where St. Helena was,” said Father Villano, who grew up in St. Paul and was ordained a priest for the Crosiers in 1958. He parked just outside the church, walked inside and was captivated by the church’s beauty, especially its dazzling stained glass windows.
Over the years, he has become captivated even more by the people who worship there. He talks fondly about the many parishioners he has gotten to know since he arrived at St. Helena, first as parish administrator for three years, then as pastor for the next 40.
“I am so touched by the holiness I see in our people, their love for the Church,” said Father Villano, 89, who became a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1981.
He likes to look out over the congregation during Mass, seeing a focus that he calls both “genuine” and “extraordinary.”
“It’s done more for me” than it’s done for them, he said. “And, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
It’s also why his only wish in retirement is to keep celebrating Mass at St. Helena.
In a letter to parishioners in June announcing his retirement, Father Villano wrote: “I need to tell you that my greatest joy over the years has been … to be with you at Holy Mass.”
— Dave Hrbacek
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