It’s been quite the blast being here at St. Joe’s the past few weeks! I am so impressed by the enthusiastic welcome that you have all so joyfully offered to me and I feel very blessed to be here! Since arriving on the First of July, I have been overwhelmed by the positive spirit and love of all of you. I must say that it truly is amazing! Thank you all for your welcome, and for so joyfully, generously, and passionately living your Faith!
I shared a bit about me my first weekend here, but here’s a recap in case you missed it.
I’m the 9th of 12 children raised in West St. Paul. Grew up across the street from St. Michael’s parish. It’s now closed, however, the school is still open (called Community of the Saints). I graduated from Henry Sibley High School (now renamed Two Rivers), and then on to the University of Minnesota for a teaching degree. Along the way I served the homeless in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, before teaching high school math in McAllen, Texas on the Mexican border (you could literally see Mexico from my school).
I finally responded to a call that I had long felt to be a priest and joined the Crosier Order of priests and brothers attending seminary at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. I was ordained in 1997 by Archbishop Flynn at St. Odilia Church in Shoreview.
In 2005 I switched from the Crosiers to become a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul/ Minneapolis. Over the years I’ve served at St. Stephen, Anoka; Pax Christi, Eden Prairie; St. Peter, North St. Paul, Guardian Angels Chaska & St. Nicholas Carver; and most recently Annunciation in South Minneapolis. I look forward to getting to know all of you and I thank you again for your wonderful welcome. I look forward to all of us growing in the love of Christ!
Next weekend Fr. David Mwendwa, a priest from Kenya will be here and I thank you for your generous support of his appeal.
Your Servant in Christ,
Fr. Bill Deziel
Comments
There are no comments yet - be the first one to comment: