Father Brown to celebrate anniversary

On February 20, 2000, Father Eugene Brown will celebrate his 40th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood at Holy Redeemer Church in Marshall, MN. He will offer an anniversary Mass at 9:00 a.m. followed by an open house from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. in Carlin Hall.

Eugene Maurice Brown was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 11, 1934, to James and Mathilda Brown. The family moved back to Minnesota when he was three weeks old. They lived on several farms west of Clara City and moved to Montevideo in 1948. Eugene attended Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary and the St Paul Seminary and was ordained by Bishop Alphonse J. Schladweiler in Sleepy Eye on February 21, 1960.

Following ordination, Father Brown served as associate pastor of St. Mary, Bird Island from 1960-1961 and of St. Mary, Sleepy Eye from 1961-1963. He served as pastor of St. John, Appleton and of St. Joseph, Holloway from 1963-1968. In 1968 he was assigned to St. Joseph, Clements and also taught at St. Anne’s High School in Wabasso until 1971. He then became pastor of St. Leo, St. Leo until 1973. He returned to Appleton and Holloway in 1973 and served until 1977, when he was assigned to St. Mary, Cottonwood and St. Isidore, Clarkfield. He took a sabbatical from January until June of 1981 and was then assigned to St. Michael, Madison and St. James, Dawson. From 1985-1989 he did editorial work at Don Bosco Multimedia in New Rochelle, NY, and assisted on weekends at Blessed Sacrament parish. In 1989, he returned to the New Ulm diocese, serving as pastor of St. Paul, Nicollet, Visitation, Swan Lake, and St. Nicholas, Middle Lake until 1993. He was then assigned as senior associate pastor of St. Mary, New Ulm until 1998. He has served as one of two senior associate pastors of Holy Redeemer, Marshall from June 1998 to the present.

Father Brown served on the staff of the Newsletter, now The Prairie Catholic, from 1972 to 1985 and still submits photographs and articles for publication. He has also photographed the annual convention of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, served as convention printer, and has published pictorial directories for six parishes. He has been secretary of the Priests’ Council for ten years.

Father Brown spent January and February of 1997 at a Spanish language school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, and July of 1999 at a school in Cuernavaca, Mexico. He has celebrated the Spanish Mass on Sundays at Holy Redeemer since coming to the parish.

You are invited to join Father Brown and Holy Redeemer parish in celebration of his 40 years of service as a priest of the Diocese of New Ulm.