Published 08-04-24

FR. DAN SHAUGHNESSY

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings to you all!

I’m back for my second tour at St. Patrick Par-ish in Wentzville. As many of you know, my first assign-ment as a priest (after ordina-tion on May 26, 2012) was at St. Pat's from June 2012 to February 2015, and I loved every minute of it. After my short time in Wentzville, I de-parted for St. Joseph Parish in Imperial on February 2, 2015; I served 9.5 glorious years there, only to return to St. Pat’s now on August 1, 2024.

The sixth of seven children, I was born on December 31, 1970 to Joe and Rosemary Shaughnessy. God blessed me with amazing parents and siblings. All six of my siblings are married and I have been blessed with twenty-one nieces and nephews ranging in age from thirteen to forty. And I am now a great uncle to ten (soon to be eleven) great nieces and nephews. I'm sure you'll see my Dad and ex-tended family around here at the parish from time to time. God, in His Providence, called my Mom home on April 16, 2024. My Mom was the most perfect human I have ever known, after Jesus and the Blessed Mother, of course. All seven of us kids and Dad were with her when she died. With-in her most beautiful heart lies the seeds of my vocation to the priesthood. I miss her like crazy but I am with her every day in the Eucharist.

It took me a while to get to seminary. I entered seminary at 35 and was ordained at 41. Trained as an architect (B.A., Architecture, 1993; Master of Architecture, 1996, Washing-ton University), I worked in the design and construction industry for ten years before entering Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in 2006. I'd say that I first felt the calling to priest-hood in second grade but with my combined Irish and German descent, I guess I can be a little stubborn. With that said, we all know that God's timing is perfect and it's nev-er too late to respond to God's call. Praise God for that!

A few practical things as I re-turn! If you notice, I walk with a slight limp. I had a massive stroke in 2006 in my brain stem, shortly after midterms during my first se-mester in seminary. So going forward, Fr. Detwiler is not the only priest in the house to have survived a brain injury! God help us all. Thank God for Fr. Skillman.

And finally, thanks be to God for Fr. Fischer. He’s done an incredible job the past 9 years. I know I have big shoes to fill, so to speak. That said, I’m ready to get started.

And oh yeah, please pray for me every day. I look forward to getting to know all of you. I'm good with names but it may take me a bit since there are so many of you. As for me, Father, Fr. Dan and Fr. Shaughnessy all work.

Thanks for your warm welcome!
Yours in Christ, Fr. Dan Shaughnessy