Father Theisen now leading NP Area Catholic Community

By: 
Patrick Fisher, The New Prague Times

Father Eugene Theisen (Patrick Fisher photo)

On Monday, July 1, Father Eugene Theisen became the Parochial Administrator for the New Prague Area Catholic Community. He takes over for Father Kevin Clinton who recently retired. He explained that it is policy in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis that when a priest is assigned to their first parish they are named a Parochial Administrator and after their first year they are named Pastor.

“It’s different in that I’m the one who gets to make the hard decisions,” said Father Theisen with a soft smile. “It’s like going from a vice commander to a commander. Now all of a sudden I’m making the decisions and that’s a humbling thing.”

Father Theisen understands command structure as he served for a total of 30 years in the Air National Guard. “I joined the military when I realized I was wasting my time in college.” That was in 1986, he was in engineering school when he decided to become a priest. “It seemed like a natural fit to join the priesthood.” He was ordained in 1999 and his co-sponsor was the Archdiocese for Military Services. The same day he was ordained he received word he was going to be deployed. “I’ve been all over the world,” said Father Theisen about his military career. He has been deployed five times and served in such places as Iraq, Afghanistan, Puerto Rico and the UAE (United Arab Emirates).

He said that an influence for his joining the priesthood was....

To see more on this story pick up the July 11, 2019 print edition of The New Prague Times. 

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