Priest assignments, parish clusterings take effect June 29

Facebooktwittermail

By Anne Marie Amacher

Bishop Martin Amos has announced another round of priest assignments and activation of parish clusterings in accordance with the Diocesan Parish Plan. All changes take effect June 29.

Fr. Beyer

Father Richard Beyer, 62, will become a part-time chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City.
A native of Burl­ing­ton, he attended schools there and graduated from Burlington Junior College and the University of Iowa. He studied at St. Ambrose College in Davenport and completed his theology studies at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. On June 6, 1981, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Gerald O’Keefe at St. John the Baptist Church in Burlington.
Fr. Beyer was an assistant at Holy Family in Davenport from 1981-84, parochial vicar at Sacred Heart Cathedral from 1984-85, chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Davenport from 1985-89, pastor of St. Joseph in Hills and provided pastoral care to St. Mary parishes in Nichols and Lone Tree from 1989-90. He served as temporary administrator at St. John the Baptist in Burlington and St. Joseph in Fort Madison in 1990, then as parochial vicar at the cathedral from 1990-91. After a leave of absence to research and write a book, he served as a chaplain at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Waco, Texas, from 1993-2011. He returned to the diocese last year where he has been serving as part-time parochial vicar at St. Mary and part-time priest campus minister at the Newman Catholic Student Center, both in Iowa City.
Father David Brownfield, 55, will become pastor of Holy Trinity in Rich­mond, St. Mary in Riverside and St. Joseph in Wellman. He was born in Indiana and

Fr. Brownfield

raised in Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois College of Engineering with a degree in computer science.  He completed theology studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and later completed a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Iowa.
On May 25, 1990, he was ordained by Bishop O’Keefe at St. Thomas More in Iowa City.
Fr. Brownfield was parochial vicar at Our Lady of Victory in Davenport from 1990-92, and St. Boniface in Farmington and St. Mary in String Prairie from 1992-93. He was pastor at St. Joseph in East Pleasant Plain and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in Richland and studied at the University of Iowa from 1993-96. He then became parochial vicar at St. Joseph in DeWitt and Ss. Philip & James in Grand Mound from 1996-98. He taught at Mount St. Clare College, which later became Ashford University in Clinton. Fr. Brownfield was sacramental minister for St. Joseph in DeWitt from 2001-05, Assumption & St. Patrick in Charlotte and Ss. Mary & Joseph in Sugar Creek from 2005-06, and DeWitt and Grand Mound parishes in 2006. He has been serving as pastor of St. Anne in Welton, St. Patrick in Delmar and Ss. Philip & James in Grand Mound since 2006.

CMC-podcast-ad
Fr. Connolly

Father Paul Connolly, 60, will remain as pastor at St. Joseph in DeWitt and also ser­ve as pastor of St. Anne in Welton. He was born in New York and attended school there until he moved to Bettendorf. He graduated from Coe College in Cedar Rapids with a degree in physical education. He taught physical education, coached and was director of the Bettendorf Parks and Recreation Department before beginning his theology studies. He completed those studies at St. Paul Seminary and was ordained to the priesthood June 11, 1983, by Bishop O’Keefe at Our Lady of Lourdes in Bettendorf.
Fr. Connolly was associate pastor, administrator and then parochial vicar at Sacred Heart in Clinton from 1983-84, and parochial vicar at Holy Family in Davenport from 1984-88. He was pastor of St. Boniface in Farmington and St. Mary in String Prairie from 1988-92, on faculty at Assumption High School in Davenport from 1992-96, then pastor of St. Joseph in East Pleasant Plain and St. Francis Xavier Cabrini in Richland from 1996-2000, All Saints in Keokuk from 2000-09 and St. Joseph in Montrose from 2001-06. He has been pastor in DeWitt since 2009.
Father William Kneemiller,61, will return as pastor to the parishes of Sacred Heart in Lost Na­tion, St. Joseph in Toronto, Sacred Heart in Oxford Junction. In

Fr. Kneemiller

addition, he will serve as pastor of Ss. Philip & James in Grand Mound. A native of St. Charles, Mo., he graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia with a degree in English literature. Before entering the priesthood he was a self-employed contractor specializing in commercial painting. He also did real estate work. He completed his theology studies at St. Paul Seminary at the University of St. Thomas. On June 12, 1999, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop William Franklin at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
He served as parochial vicar at St. Paul the Apostle in Davenport from 1999-2003. He then served as a military chaplain in Iraq from 2003-04. Upon his return he was assigned as pastor of the Lost Nation, Toronto and Oxford Junction parishes from 2004-10. He served in Afghanistan as a chaplain from 2009-10. Fr. Knee­miller has been pastor of St. Joseph in Hills, St. Mary in Lone Tree and St. Mary in Nichols since 2010.

Fr. Lemaster

Father Scott Lemaster, 55, will remain pastor of Assumption & St. Patrick in Charlotte, Immac­u­la­te Concep­tion in Peters­ville and Ss. Mary & Joseph in Sugar Creek. He will also be­come pastor at St. Patrick in Delmar. A native of Muscatine, he graduated from St. Ambrose College with a degree in music. He completed his theology studies at the Aquinas Institute in St. Louis. On June 22, 1985, he was ordained to the priesthood at St. Mary in Muscatine by Bishop O’Keefe.
Fr. Lemaster served as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Victory in Davenport from 1985-90 and then as pastor of Sacred Heart in Kinross from 1990-96, Holy Trinity in Richmond and St. Joseph in Wellman from 1990-98, provided pastoral management for the Kinross parish in 1996, and then served as pastor of St. Patrick in Melrose, St. Patrick in Georgetown and St. Peter in Lovilia from 1998-2006. He has been at the Charlotte, Sugar Creek and Petersville parishes since 2006.
Father Dennis Martin,70, will retire from parish ministry. A native of Burling­ton, he graduated from St. Ambrose with a degree in philosophy and Loyola

Fr. Martin

University with a master’s in religious education. He completed his theology studies at Mt. St. Bernard Seminary in Dubuque. On June 3, 1967, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop O’Kee­fe at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Fr. Martin served as associate pastor at St. Mary in West Point from 1967-71. He was religious education coordinator at Marquette High School in West Point from 1971-77, administrator, co-pastor then pastor of St. Boniface in Farmington and St. Mary in String Prairie from 1971-81. He was pastor of St. Bridget in Nolan Settlement and St. Berna­dette in West Branch from 1981-83. He then took a leave of absence to take clinical pastoral education classes at Abbot-North­west­ern in Minneapolis. Upon his return he was chaplain at Mercy Hospital and the Veterans’ Hospital, both in Iowa City, from 1985-93. He then served as pastor of St. James in Washington from 1993-2003. He has been pastor at St. Bernadette in West Branch and St. Joseph in West Liberty since 2003.

Fr. McDaniel

Father George Mc­Daniel, 69, will remain chancellor of the Diocese of Daven­port, but will retire from parish ministry. He attended schools in Wash­ing­ton and graduated from St. Ambrose College. He did his theological studies at Aquinas Institute of Theology in Dubuque and Catholic University in Washington, D.C. On June 6, 1970, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop O’Keefe at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Fr. McDaniel was associate pastor of St. Peter in Keokuk from 1970-73 and St. Patrick in Ottumwa from 1973-74. He then served on faculty at St. Ambrose College/Uni­versity from 1974-2007. While serving on faculty, Fr. McDaniel also served as rector of the St. Ambrose seminary department from 1989-96 and director of spiritual formation from 2001-04. He earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Iowa in 1986. He served as vice chancellor from 2003-07 and has served as chancellor since 2007. He has served as administrator and then parochial vicar at Holy Family in Davenport since 2008.
Father Michael Spieker­meier,68, will be­come pastor of St. Joseph in Hills, St. Mary in Lone Tree and St. Mary in Nichols. He attended schools in Missouri and

Fr. Spiekermeier

then West Point. He studied at Loras College in Du­buque, the University of Iowa and then graduated from St. Ambrose with a degree in philosophy. He completed his theology studies at Mt. St. Bernard and Aquinas Institute School of Theology in Dubuque. On May 31, 1969, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop O’Keefe at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Fr. Spiekermeier served as an associate pastor at St. Patrick in Clinton and chaplain at The Alverno in Clinton, from 1969-74. He then served as associate pastor at Holy Family in Davenport from 1974-85 and also administrator at Holy Family School from 1975-84. He then served as pastor at Sacred Heart in Clinton from 1984-88, coordinator/director of public relations at Mater Dei High School in Clinton from 1987-88 and pastor of All Saints in Keokuk from 1988-2000. He has been pastor of St. Paul the Apostle in Davenport since 2000. He also served as administrator of St. Mary in Davenport from 2007-08.

Fr. Steckel

Father Gregory Steckel, 59, will become administrator of St. Berna­dette in West Branch and St. Joseph in West Liberty. A native of Moline, Ill., he attended Catholic schools in the Illinois Quad-Cities and graduated from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb with a degree in child development. He completed his theology studies at St. John University Seminary in Collegeville, Minn. On July 12, 1981, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop O’Keefe at St. Anthony in Davenport.
He served as temporary administrator at St. Joseph in Sugar Creek in 1981, acting chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Daven­port in 1981 and associate pastor at Our Lady of Victory in Davenport from 1981-82. He served as administrator at St. Peter in Buffalo from 1982-85, then as pastor at St. Boniface in Farmington and St. Mary in String Prairie in 1985 before taking a leave of absence. He returned to Farmington and String Prairie where he served as pastor from 1986-87. After a leave of absence he worked as chaplain at the East Moline, Ill., Correctional Center from 1988-2001. He returned to parish ministry as sacramental minister at St. Peter in Cosgrove and St. Mary in Oxford and assisted in pastoral care at the University of Iowa hospitals in 2001. Fr. Steckel served as chaplain at the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Leavenworth, Kan., from 2001-05, and then as chaplain at the Federal prison camps in Yankton, S.D., from 2005-08. After returning to the diocese, he was parochial vicar at Ss. Mary & Joseph and Sacred Heart in Fort Madison and then the newly merged Holy Family in Fort Madison as well as St. Joseph in Montrose from 2008-09. He has been serving since 2009 as administrator pro-tem, then administrator, at Sacred Heart in Lost Nation, Sacred Heart in Oxford Junction and St. James in Toronto.

New parish clusters
A new clustering of parishes takes the existing cluster parishes of St. Patrick in Delmar, Ss. Philip & James in Grand Mound and St. Anne in Welton and splits them up to join other parishes.
The Delmar parish will cluster with Charlotte, Petersville and Sugar Creek. Grand Mound will cluster with Lost Nation, Oxford Junction and Toronto. Welton will cluster with DeWitt.
Also as a result of the new priest assignments, Holy Family in Davenport will now be served by one priest.


Support The Catholic Messenger’s mission to inform, educate and inspire the faithful of the Diocese of Davenport – and beyond! Subscribe to the print and/or e-edition, or make a one-time donation, today!

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Facebooktwittermail
Posted on

2 thoughts on “Priest assignments, parish clusterings take effect June 29

  1. Did I miss something here or is St. Paul the Apostle going to be without a pastor?.

    1. Read the March 1, 2012, edition of The Catholic Messenger, which reported priest assignments for St. Paul the Apostle and several other parishes. The assignments are being announced as priests are assigned to parishes.
      We still have copies of the March 1 edition for purchase.
      Barb Arland-Fye
      Editor
      The Catholic Messenger

Comments are closed.