Fr. John Gallus is the new pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Loretto. He poses by the door of the church building, which is more than 100 years old. Photo by Lisa Phillips

"God has a plan, a purpose for everyone," said Fr. John Gallas, the new pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Loretto.

With barely two months under his belt, this young enthusiastic priest is excited about his parishioners, the church, the community and the next chapter in his life.

Fr. Gallas will be installed as pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church by Fr. Michael Miller, of the Delano Catholic Community, during the 5 p.m. mass at the church's Harvest Moon Festival, Saturday, Sept. 27. The festival will continue on Sunday, Sept. 28.

Other festivities at the event will include a silent and live auction, Mega Bingo, baked chicken dinner catered by Dobo's after Saturday's 5 p.m. mass, and French toast breakfast from 8 a.m. to noon on Sunday.

Sts. Peter and Paul Church is located at 145 Railway St. E., Loretto. For information call 479-0535 or visit the website: www.cspap.org.

Fr. Gallas talked about his first impressions of Loretto.

Coming from St. Joseph's, a large parish in West St. Paul, has "been a big change, a good change," he said. He likes the smaller parish of Sts. Peter and Paul and being out in the beautiful countryside, the small town atmosphere and of course the sound of the train.

"It's a neat experience. Sometimes in the evening I can hear the cows bellowing at the farm next door," he chuckled.

Growing up on the east side of St. Paul, he and his family attended St. John's Catholic Church and often prayed together as a family. At the time he was ready to go into high school, the family moved to White Bear Lake where he went to the public high school.

Enlisting in the National Guard at 18, he received basic training in Inver Grove Heights and began praying for a career path and what he should study in school upon his return. "The priesthood wasn't on my radar screen, but that is what came to me," he said.

With an interest in computer science and history, he went to college at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls. Over the next three semesters, he felt the Lord's call. "It was a struggle and took courage to accept His call," said Fr. Gallas.

He transferred to the largest college seminary in the nation, St. John Vianney, located on the Campus of St. Thomas University in St. Paul. The "seminary is over filled and has to rent more space off campus," remarked Fr. Gallas.

"That first day I was extremely nervous," he continued. "I didn't know what to expect. Once I arrived I had tremendous peace. There was a good spirit in that seminary."

The next three years he fell in love with studying philosophy and Catholic studies. His studies took him to Rome where he, along with some 150 other students, attended the North American College, a part of the American Seminary located near the Vatican on the Gianiculum Hill.

While there, he had some "awesome experiences," and traveled to many places such as Lourdes and Lisieux in France, Ireland, England and Switzerland, Fr. Gallas said.

Returning home in 2005, he was ordained with 14 other seminarians at St. Paul Cathedral. Much to his surprise it was a huge celebration with aunts, uncles, cousins and immediate family all showing their support for this new diocesan priest.

A diocesan priest is one who is bound geographically to a particular area. While in France visiting the Dominican priests, Fr. Gallas realized his love for the Minnesota area and chose to be located within the Minneapolis area.

Returning to Rome, he spent one year as a "student priest," and returned to the United States. In the summer of 2006, Fr. Gallas was sent to St. Joseph's, where he realized the happiness of being a priest.

"It was a wonderful parish and was very active with daily mass, a large school," he said. "I was very involved in the junior high and senior high youth program, not to mention all the pastoral ministries, visiting the sick and homebound, doing weddings and funerals."

Fr. Gallas finds his new parish very different, but still very busy. "The duties of a pastor I'm finding are very different from the duties of a parochial vicar," he commented.

He finds the hospitality and the way the parish has welcomed him to be the nicest thing. But he's also enjoying the many area fishing lakes and plans on deer hunting once again this fall.

Many ideas are in the future for this growing parish of some 350 families. Fr. Gallas, with the support of the parishioners, is anxious to help form the future of a church that is more than a century old.

His foremost goal is to be a good priest and serve the people with a "shepherd's heart."

"I was sent to lead people to God and that's no small task. "That's my focus," he calmly explained.

Looking to Pope John Paul and seeing his commitment for making time to meet with today's youth, Father Gallas finds this to be a priority in his ministry also.