Parishes, Fujimi Mission, and Chaplaincies
When Bishop Cretin of St. Paul asked Abbot Boniface Wimmer OSB to send Benedictine monks to the Minnesota Territory, it was to minister pastorally to German immigrants. The first Mass the Benedictines offered publicly took place in the attic of a private house in St. Cloud on the Feast of Corpus Christi, May 22, 1856. The number of laity was so great that the supports for the attic needed emergency re-enforcement.
Once responsible for parishes as distantly apart as Garrison, North Dakota, and The Bronx, New York, the monks also staffed foreign missions in places as diverse as Humacao, Puerto Rico. and Peking, China.
At the present time, monks care for about 265 families in the local Collegeville parish of Saint John the Baptist.
Elsewhere in the Diocese of Saint Cloud, monks serve in the following parishes and chaplaincies:
Albany; Avon; Cold Spring; Farming & St. Martin; Freeport, New Munich & Saint Rose; Jacobs Prairie; Richmond; and St. Joseph.
In the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, monks serve as chaplains in New Hope and St. Paul.
Three monks are on special pastoral assignments in San Bernadino, California, and Nassau, The Bahamas.
Missions
Monks are also missionaries in Fujimi, Japan. Father Roman Paur OSB serves as the superior of Trinity Benedictine Monastery (Japanese website).
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