





|
|
Staff at
St. Joseph Parish

Fr. Mark Underdahl
Pastor
|
|
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
|

Fr. Ken Pierre
Weekend Assistant
|
|
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
|
 |
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.
|

|
|
Joseph Zabinski is
a first year theologian at St. Paul Seminary (SPS). As a part of the
first year of theology studies, every seminarian is assigned a
“Teaching Parish” that serves as place of learning and growth
throughout a seminarian’s four years of formation. These "Teaching
Parish" experiences will help him know how to serve the People of God
more effectively. It is his sincere hope to
have a good experience here at St. Joseph’s. God willing, he will be
with us for the next four years, and it is his prayer that he may be
able to get to know our parishioners as best as he can. Please
pray for him and know that you are all in his prayers as well.
Joseph is originally from the Church of St. Charles Borromeo, which is
located in the NE Minneapolis region within the city of St.
Anthony. He grew up there most of his life with his three
sisters, Monica, Anna, and Marie, and his Mom and Dad, Mary Ann and
Roger. He also has a brother- in- law named Ryan and a nephew
named Angelo. He attended eighth grade and high school at St.
Agnes. He was scared to enter St. John Vianney Seminary, the
minor seminary for the Archdiocese, so he decided to go to the
University of Minnesota, where his older sisters were going. He also
spent some time at Inver Hills Community College. After this
experience, he finally entered into St. John Vianney. Thank God that he
did! He graduated from St. John Vianney at the University of St. Thomas
in May of 2009 and received undergraduate degrees in Catholic Studies
and Philosophy.
|

Amy Moore
Parish Administrator
|
 |
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. She has
coached Special Olympics golf for a number of years, and taught flute
lessons.
|

Andrea Grasse
Director of Music
|
 |
Andrea Grasse has
worked at St. Joseph's parish for 28 years as an accompanist at weekend
masses. She is currently is 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 Group, Resurrection Choir, Children's
Choir, and the Instrumental Ensemble.
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.
|

Kathy Indihar
Director of Pastoral Ministry
Coordinator of First Eucharist and First Reconciliation Preparation
|
 |
Kathy’s Pastoral
Care responsibilities include planning and assisting at funerals,
making home and hospital visits and supervising the Pastoral Care
Ministers who bring communion and make weekly visits to those in need.
Women’s Spirituality, Grief Ministry, Masses of Anointing of the Sick,
Prayer Shawls and the Prayer Network are some of the numerous
ministries under her supervision. She has recently added First
Reconciliation and First Eucharist Preparation to her duties.
Kathy has a Masters degree in Pastoral Studies from the University of
St. Thomas/St. Paul School of Divinity. She enjoys her family’s cabin
near Ely, reading, movies, walking Buddy (her Cavalier King Charles
Spaniel) and eating out with friends.
|

Steve Robach
Director Faith Formation and Charity andJustice
|
 |
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!
|

Denise Walsh
Confirmation Coordinator and Youth Minister (Grades 9-12)
|
 |
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!
|

Jean Longendyke
Elementary Coordinator
(Grades 1-6)
|
 |
|

Darlene Newman
Parish Office Staff
|
 |
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.
|

Mary Pehoski
Administrative Support for Staff
|
 |
Mary Pehoski began
working for St. Joseph’s December 1, 2004. The best part of her job is
meeting the many wonderful parishioners who worship and volunteer here.
Mary was born in Cando, North Dakota, and grew up in Blaine. She
has lived in Lino Lakes with her husband, Dave, and two boys, Steve and
Tim, since October 2001. In her spare time she enjoys reading,
needlework, gardening, biking, cleaning (just kidding!) and swimming.
|

John Johnson
Head Custodian
|
|
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.
|

Chris Sauter
Early Childhood, Communications, Middle School Ministry Coordinator
|
 |
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.
|
|