St John the Apostle
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JULY 2016 St.John the Apostle PARISH NEWSLETTER “I Have Always Desired to Journey With People as They Encounter God” Meet Our New Pastor — Fr. David Richter Inside this issue 3 A Letter From Our Pastor 4 Br. Symeon The Journey of Discernment 6 “The Apostle of Peru and Argentina” The Richter family – (back row, from left) John, Msgr. Tom, Jerome and Luke; St. Francis Solanus (middle row, from left) Fr. Richter, Patrick, Marc, Gary, Marlyn, and Andrew (in front of Marlyn); (seated, from left) Teresa, Mary Ann, Mary (mom), Victor 7 The St. John the (dad), Colleen and Lisa Apostle Welcoming Ministry iving on a farm is a highly appli- spending hours milking cows and fos- Lcable analogy to parish life. That’s tering a sense of the spirit of prayer.” what Fr. David Richter, the eighth child On a dairy farm about 20 minutes in a family of 14 children, believes. outside of Bismarck, Fr. Richter and “Growing up on a farm fosters a his siblings worked, played and prayed sense of stewardship, for everyone is together. His father spent five years invested in the farm,” says Fr. Rich- in the seminary before marrying his St. John the Apostle ter, St. John’s new pastor. “There is a mother. In his mother’s family, three of 2600 Central Avenue W. fairly consistent occurrence of people her aunts became nuns, and three of her Minot, ND 58701 who grew up on a dairy farm joining uncles became Benedictine priests. 701-839-7076 the religious life. I think part of that is www.stjohnminot.com continued on page 2 Meet Fr. David Richter continued from front cover “I was raised in a very Catholic home, and the Church was always a priority,” Fr. Richter says. “The priesthood and the religious life were very familiar to us.” Becoming a priest was always a possibility for Fr. Richter, like becom- ing an engineer or a farmer. With a degree in industrial engineering from North Dakota State University, Fr. Richter began applying for jobs, yet he attributed the certainty that his par- ents had in their marriage to his dad’s discerning the priesthood first. “I made the decision to spend at least one year in the seminary,” says Fr. Richter. “When I decided to enter the seminary, I was in college and dating a girl who was the oldest of 13 Fr. David Richter with the young people receiving their First Communion at St. Anthony in Linton and from a dairy farm in Minnesota. I thought God might tell me that this is and His mercy, love and beauty,” Fr. 30-day silent retreat in 2008,” Fr. the girl I have chosen for you.” Richter says. “I like being a confessor Richter says. “Having that oppor- After a few years, however, it be- and doing retreats where people are tunity to be in God’s love and to be came obvious that God had plans for longing to know God.” guided by a spiritual director really Fr. Richter to be a priest, and when he As he recalls the past 16 years, made clear what a great gift and a opened up to his vocation, he expe- Fr. Richter shares that he has expe- great joy it is to be a priest.” rienced ineffable joy and peace. He rienced many moments when he felt On July 1, Fr. Richter officially was ordained on May 25, 2000, at the particularly blessed to have received a Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. vocation to the priesthood. became the new pastor of St. John’s. He feels privileged and honored to “I have always desired to journey “One of the most powerful and with people as they encounter God beautiful experiences was doing a serve as the spiritual father of our faith community. “I have always desired to journey with “I know I am not perfect and that the people I will be serving are not people as they encounter God and His mercy, perfect, but like God, I want to love love and beauty. I like being a confessor and them where they are and to help them doing retreats where people are longing to to grow to be what God wants,” Fr. Richter says. “I hope that they will do know God.” – Fr. David Richter the same for me.” 2 St.John the Apostle A Letter from Our Pastor “For Nothing Will Be Impossible for God” Dear brothers and sisters, am writing this article before I arrive years of high school and won the state title at I in person to take up my service as your the 145-pound weight class as a senior. pastor, so that you can have a knowledge of In college, I studied to be an engineer. In the basic background of the one called to 1994, I graduated from NDSU with a Bachelor be your spiritual father this next number of of Science degree in industrial engineering years. I feel extremely blessed by God and and entered the seminary at Cardinal Muench Bishop Kagan in being called to such an in- in Fargo. In 1996, I concluded my studies at credible assignment! It rightly is a grace that Cardinal Muench with a minor in Philosophy I am not worthy or deserving of, but rather a and a minor in Accounting. From there, I was gift that I am excited for. I have loved each sent to Kenrick-Glennon theological seminary assignment that my bishop has given to me, in St. Louis, Mo., where I received my Masters and the people that I have been privileged in Theology and was ordained a priest of Jesus to serve as a priest. I invest my whole heart Christ on May 25, 2000 along with five other in what I have been summoned to do, I will always do what men in Bismarck. is faithful to Mother Church and what is judged by me as My first assignment I served as the associate pastor at the greatest good for your eternal well-being. Let us truly the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Bismarck and chaplain/ believe what we hear in Luke’s Gospel, “for nothing will be teacher at SMCHS until July 2002. July of 2002, I was ap- impossible for God.” pointed as pastor of St. John the Baptist in Beach, N.D., and Now, let me share some basic family details; I am the the churches in Golva and Medora, as well as the chaplain eighth child of 14 children born to Victor and Mary Richter; at Home on the Range for boys and girls in Sentinel Butte. I have nine brothers (one is Msgr. Thomas, rector of our Ca- In 2010, I accepted the assignment as pastor of St. Anthony thedral) and four sisters. I am pretty sure that the number of Parish in Linton and the parishes in Hazelton and Brad- nieces and nephews that I presently have is 55. I was raised dock, serving them until now. I have also been involved in on a dairy farm 15 miles southeast of Bismarck. It seems the Bismarck marriage tribunal for 10 years. I am a lifelong that milking cows is a job that nurtures in boys a consider- Miami Dolphins fan, which has been the greatest source of ation to study for the priesthood! It may be just one of the my suffering the last 30 years! simplest ways that they conclude would get them away from I hope that this sketch will help you to know me a little milking cows for the rest of their life. bit and be a start for us to develop a lifelong relationship I attended first through eighth grade at a little country in Christ. Know that I have been praying for you for some school (Telfer), a few miles from our farm. At the start of months before now, and that there is already an affection for fourth grade, I was ill and later diagnosed with Type 1 diabe- you growing in my heart! Let us help each other become the tes and have been insulin dependent since. God has been very saints that God made us to be! good to me in this and used it to help me to develop a little bit of discipline in my life – however, I am still in need of more! Yours in Christ, After graduating from eighth grade, I attended high school at St. Mary’s Central in Bismarck, where I graduated with 110 Fr. David Richter, classmates in 1989. I competed in wrestling my last three Pastor 3 St.John the Apostle Br. Symeon The Journey of Discernment s children of God, we are all if what God wants isn’t what you high school, I attended a retreat at Acalled to a vocation. Whether want? How can you be sure you are Assumption Abbey and realized how it’s answering that call to marriage, making the right decision? There are I enjoyed coming to prayer.” to the single life or to the religious never-ending questions, but as we In fact, it was at that very retreat life, a vocation is a gift from God, can learn from Brother Symeon, God at the Abbey where Br. Symeon first nurtured in prayer, which helps us would not have a plan for us if He met Br. Aelred Reid who jokingly find fulfillment and happiness ac- didn’t want us to know what it was. said to him, “You know this is your cording to His plan. But how do you But it might take some work.