Bishop Patrick Neary visits Fergus Falls church

By Tom Hintgen

Otter Tail County Correspondent

Bishop Patrick Neary presided during a bilingual Mass with Spanish Monday evening, Dec. 8, at Our Lady of Victory Church, Fergus Falls. OLV is part of the Area Catholic Community which also includes Pelican Rapids and Elizabeth. The bishop, who heads the St. Cloud Diocese, also had a blessing for the refurbished OLV church following a fire in early 2025.

On Dec. 15, 2022, Pope Francis appointed him to be the 10th bishop of the Diocese of Saint Cloud. He was formally installed Feb. 14, 2023. He previously served as pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish in Portland, Oregon.

While speaking Dec. 8 to members of the Area Catholic Community in Fergus Falls, Bishop Patrick said, “Have generous hearts to serve your neighbors.”

A few days earlier, on Dec. 2, Bishop Patrick was appointed as chairperson of the Catholic Relief Services Board of Directors. He succeeds Archbishop Nelson Perez of Philadelphia.

“My years in Africa and in parish ministry have shown me the face of Christ in the poor and the vulnerable,” Bishop Patrick said. “I carry those encounters with me into this role with Catholic Relief Services.”

Bishop Neary is a native of La Porte, Indiana, and later graduated from Notre Dame in 1985. He spent a semester in Mexico City where he learned Spanish. He attended the Jesuit School of Theology in northern California and continued seminary studies in Santiago, Chile, where he practiced his Spanish.

In 1991 he was ordained a priest of the Congregation of the Holy Cross which resides at Notre Dame. Neary worked in administration and spiritual guidance at Notre Dame and later was assigned to administration duties in Vatican City where he served from 2002 to 2010.

He was assigned to administrative duties at a seminary in Kenya and subsequently as an administrator in Uganda in east Africa. Then it was on to Portland, Oregon, in 2018, serving as pastor of Holy Redeemer parish, until becoming a bishop and moving to Minnesota in 2022.

The Diocese of St. Cloud includes 131 parishes spread across 16 counties, including Otter Tail County, in central and western Minnesota. The diocese has a population of close to 125,000 people.