Fr. Andrew R. Brinkman–St. Paul/Minneapolis, MN.
Fr. Andrew was born on the Huron River in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He studied at the University of Saint Thomas in the Saint John Vianney College Seminary in Minnesota. His majors were philosophy and Catholic Studies. He then spent a year with the Emmanuel Community in Namur, Belgium and then four years at the Saint Paul Seminary in Minnesota.
He has two older brothers and two younger sisters. He received his calling at the age of 9 when a friend of his dad came to their new home and said that one of the boys in the family had a vocation to the priesthood. At the moment the seed was planted and although he didn’t always want to be a priest. He actually began to desire it after he met Jesus in the Eucharist. During his senior year of high school he began to pray before the Blessed Sacrament also known as Eucharistic adoration. This had a major impact on him.
He met the Emmanuel Community at a youth forum in Altötting, Germany. The forum was held one week prior to the 2005 World Youth Day events in Cologne, Germany. This was his first experience with the Emmanuel Community and he was touched by their joy and the witness of different states of life gathered into one family.
The Emmanuel Community helped him to realize that he could not be a good priest without the help of his brothers and sisters in community.
Fr. Andrew serves as a priest at the parish of Nativity of the Lord in St. Paul, MN.
Dear Fr. Brinkman, thank you for your note. I was pleased to meet at the program and to see your interest and appreciation of the spiritual life. May God continue to bless your priesthood abundantly. God’s blessings, Fr. Gallagher