A Thank You to our “Fathers” for Fathers’ Day

from our 60th Anniversary Celebration
from our 60th Anniversary Celebration in 2012

Here at St. Anne’s, a lot of our men are not biological fathers.  Therefore, our activities staff have taken to celebrating “Men’s Day” the week after the annual Fathers’ Day observance.  This is a way of honoring the men who live here, regardless of their role in life (be they fathers or not).

I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank some other men, who, while they also lack the title of “Dad,” are affectionately, gratefully, and respectfully referred to as “Father”- and with good reason. We are very grateful for our priests who have served us over the years.

I won’t attempt to name all of them here; there have been many who have come to offer Mass for us; the service of priests to St. Anne’s dates back to when the Home was located at the former location by the river.  I would guess it even dates back to the time when St. Anne’s was in Fargo.

I could not, however, fail to mention Fr. Gerald Potter, whose link with our Sisters dates back to his school days at St. John’s in Collegeville, MN.  He was a waiter there as a student and worked with our sisters who ran the kitchen there.  In later years, he offered Mass at St. Anne’s innumerable times before coming to reside here.

Also, I’d like to thank our priests from St. Michael’s parish (past and present) who have come to offer Mass atSt. Anne’s (both the current and the former locations).  I am very grateful to Fr. Braun, Fr. King, and Fr. Haman for offering Mass here every Tuesday, and on other occasions as needed (as well as Fr. Pfeifer when he was here) .

We very much appreciate the generosity and thoughtfulness of our priests.  It has been very, very seldom (during my six years here) that we have not had daily Mass offered in our Chapel.  Thank you for helping to look after “our little flock.”  A special thanks goes out to Msgr. Vetter and Fr. Bernie Schneider for also making a commitment to us more than once a week!  Fr. Ed Sherman and Fr. William Callery also deserve a special word of thanks for so often filling in.

I’d like to thank all of our priests as we celebrate Fathers’ Day.