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Staff at St. Joseph Parish

Fr. Mark Underdahl
Pastor
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Fr. Mark was
ordained to the priesthood on May 25,
1996. He has a profound
love for the liturgies of the Church and very
much enjoys presiding and preaching at Mass.
For relaxation he enjoys the beauty of
creation, especially on the North Shore of
Lake Superior, going for early morning
walks, music, reading, the theater and
caring for his five year-old Cairn
Terrier, Charlee. He is a Third
Degree member of the Knights of Columbus
and the Twin Cities Cursillo
Community. He loves his life as a
priest and cannot imagine doing anything
else. The support of his family and
friends has been very moving for
him. He has felt honored to be
invited in as a member of another family
and to share with them the joys and
sorrows of life. He is very happy
and excited about his appointment to Saint
Joseph’s and is looking forward to sharing
the journey with us.
Click here to see photos from Fr. Mark's
Installation 1/20/08
photos by Joe Twohy
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Fr. Ken Pierre
Weekend Assistant
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Fr. Ken is a
retired priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul
and Minneapolis. Before his retirement in
2003, he was pastor of the Church of the
Annunciation in south Minneapoils for 12 years.
He was ordained in 1963.
He lives in the 1949 Pierre family home in
Como Park in St. Paul. His interests are
reading, writing, sports, history, church
issues, cooking, friends, family, travel,
gardening, and home maintenance.
Fr. Ken has been a weekend assistant at St.
Joe's since 2003. |

Deacon
Tom Konkel
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Deacon Tom Konkel
has been deacon at St. Joe’s for the past 12
years. He was ordained a permanent deacon
in the archdiocese of Mpls./St. Paul in
1996. His first assignment, after
ordination, was deacon at St. Andrews parish in
St. Paul. Deacon Tom is employed at Minnesota
Lawyers Mutual Ins. Co., as a Regional Director,
and has been employed with this company for the
past 18 years. Deacon Tom is married, and he and
his wife, Mary, have 4 children and 7
grandchildren. They find the spirit of
hospitality alive and well at St. Joe’s.
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Amy Moore
Parish Administrator
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Amy and her
family (husband Paul and daughter Hannah) moved
to Blaine from Rochester in the spring of 2009.
She was the parish administrator at Pax Christi
Catholic Church for 4 years prior to joining our
staff. Her son Andrew is stationed in Japan,
serving as an Army medic. Amy attended
Viterbo University in LaCrosse for both her
undergraduate and graduate studies in Servant
Leadership. Being new to the parish, Amy
anticipates many wonderful conversations,
learning moments, listening to stories and
needs, and journeying with St. Joe's as we grow
in our faith together.
Aside from her passion for learning and serving
the church, she loves to golf, read, entertain,
play the flute, piano and sing. .
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Tim Lawrence
Pastoral Care Director
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Tim is very
excited to be serving in Pastoral Care at St.
Joseph’s Parish. Tim has lived in Mounds View,
Blaine and Coon Rapids for most of his life. He
attended and graduated from the University of
Wisconsin, Oshkosh in 2001, with a B.A. in
Journalism Advertising/PR. For four years
(2007-2011), he studied formally for the
priesthood at St. Paul Seminary, but discerned
in 2011 to step away from the seminary at that
time. He is excited for the new plans God has in
store for him.
Tim is close to his family and enjoys spending
time with them. In addition to his love for God
and the Church, Tim enjoys helping others, loves
listening to music, reading, watching classic
movies, good conversations with family and
friends and a game of golf. He also loves
to travel if he can, and has enjoyed trips to
various countries in Europe, Israel and other
wonderful places. Tim looks forward to his
continued interaction with the community of St.
Josephs Parish
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Andrea Grasse
Director of Music
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Andrea
Grasse has worked at St. Joseph's parish since
1981 as an accompanist at weekend masses. She is
currently the Director of Music, planning music
for the weekend liturgies, and directing the
choir. Music Ministry at St. Joe's is
represented by the following areas: The
Liturgical Choir, Spirit Alive Singers,
Resurrection Choir, Children's Choir, and the
Instrumental Ensemble. Music Ministry also
puts on the Variety Show, Christmas Concert and
Halloween Dance. Andrea is also
responsible for the liturgical ministry
schedules.
Andrea has been a part of the St. Joe's
community her whole life. She is married with
two children. She enjoys spending time with her
family, reading, working out, and baking.
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Steve Robach
Director Faith Formation and Charity
andJustice
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Steve is married,
has two grown adult children, and has worked in
parish ministry for over 30 years as a youth
minister and Director of Religious Education. He
has master degrees in Religious Education and in
Psychology. He sees the forming of spiritually
alive adults as one of the most critical needs
in our church today. The gradual shift, at St.
Joseph’s from a k-12, one hour a week religious
instruction model, to a cradle to grave
formation model that emphasizes a lively
partnership between the home church and the
parish center gives him great hope for the
future. He is also excited about the growing
number of people at St. Joseph’s who are
responding to the challenges of living the
Social Gospel.
His avocations are reading, writing, gardening,
motorcycle trips through the back roads of North
and South Dakota, and trying to outsmart the
squirrels that regularly raid his bird
feeders. Currently the squirrels are
winning!
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Denise Walsh
Confirmation Coordinator and Youth Minister
(Grades 9-12)
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Denise Walsh has
been serving at St Joseph since 1999. Her
enthusiasm for the Senior High Youth Ministry
and Confirmation programs is evident by the many
creative elements she brings to the table.
Be it Mission trips, Boundary Water excursions,
deepening our youth’s faith as they prepare for
Confirmation, or working closely with Peer
Ministers (post – Confirmation youth), Denise is
present to lead and serve.
We are blessed to have Denise on staff – she
brings clever ideas, always has fresh new ideas,
and of course, prizes, prizes, prizes!
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Jean Longendyke
Elementary Coordinator
(Grades 1-6) and 2nd Grade
Sacraments
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Jean has been at
St. Joe’s since August of 2009; previously she
was at St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake
coordinating the Sunday Pre-school program. She
lives in Hugo with her husband Scott, their 4
children, and dog, Cody. In her spare time she
loves to read, garden, go boating, camp and
travel. But her most favorite thing to do is
spend time with her husband and kids.
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Darlene Newman
Parish Office Staff
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Darlene
M
Newman has worked for St. Joseph's Parish since
April 1, 1976. She was the first lay secretary
hired by Sister Elizabeth. Fr. John Wirth was
then pastor. She and her husband had two little
girls at the time and she wanted part time, not
full time, work. Darlene has seen many priests
come and go from our parish, changes in the
programs we offer, the new building that we
built, and hundreds of new parishioners. When
she started at St. Joe's we had 850
families. We now have 2000 families!
She loves working here and all of the terrific
people that she comes in contact with. Since she
was the first hired lay person here at St. Joe's
she has done a little bit of everything and
knows things like where the well is and where
the old lift station is for the septic system.
She now works with the funerals, does all
of the books for parish, and any other jobs that
need to be done.
Darlene has 2 grown daughters and 7
grandchildren who keep her busy. She also
enjoys reading, gardening, and traveling.
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John Johnson
Head Custodian
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John
Johnson started at St. Joe's March 1st of
2004. John was born in St. Paul and grew
up in Vadnais heights. He has been a
resident of Lino Lakes since early 1997.
In fact, he brags about his short commute to
work as he lives 2 blocks away on Elm
Street. John is married, has 4
children, and 5 fabulous grandchildren.
Prior to working at St. Joseph's John worked as
a city maintenance worker for 25 years.
his hobbies include gardening, collecting old
movies, reading, and raising pigeons. His
experience with showing and judging pigeons has
made him nationally well known amoung pigeon
fanciers.
John enjoys his work at St. Joseph, noting that
parisioners and co-workers make the work fly by.
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Terry Meyer
Groundskeeper
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Chris Sauter
Early Childhood, Communications, Middle School
Ministry Coordinator
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Chris Sauter
coordinates the Preschool-aged programs, Middle
School Ministry, manages the parish website,
edits the weekly bulletin, and helps coordinate
the parish quarterly newsletter.
Feel free to send newsletter, bulletin and
website submissions, comments, suggestions, or
updates to her! Email your bulletin
submissions to Chris before Tuesday
afternoon. (Please note that over
holidays, bulletin deadlines sometimes shift.)
Chris and her husband,
Brian, have three daughters. In her
spare time she enjoys
German folk dancing, running, biking, reading
and skiing.
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