Redemptorist Father Joseph Stenger, who served St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center for 12 years, died Sept. 2 in Liguori, Missouri, at age 88. Father Stenger joined St. Alphonsus in 2003 as associate pastor and retired in 2007, but continued to minister to parishioners there until 2015.
Father Pat Grile, pastor of St. Alphonsus from 1999 to 2011, said he knew Father Stenger well, as they served the parish together for eight years. Although Father Stenger was 72 when he joined St. Alphonsus, Father Grile remembers his energy, humor and fondness for visiting the sick and suffering. “He became known for that,” Father Grile said, and would travel from the northwest metro to locations including St. Paul to visit parishioners, day or night, rain or shine, and even on cold, snowy days.
“Whenever there was a call or a need to visit someone in the hospital or a nursing home, nine times out of 10, Father Joe would say, ‘I’ll go. That’s my ministry.’
“He was such a jovial character,” Father Grile said. “He’d go down a (hospital) corridor or come into a nursing home to visit someone, and he’d start singing in Portuguese. People would ask what he was singing, and he kind of smiled and said, ‘Oh, it’s a love song.’”
A native of Glennonville, Missouri, Father Stenger learned Portuguese where he spent most of his religious life, from 1959 to 2003, as a missionary in Brazil. He started serving the poor and abandoned in the Amazon Region of Brazil shortly after his ordination in 1957.
In addition to songs, Father Stenger brought Communion to the sick, heard confessions and tried to cheer up those who were hospitalized, Father Grile said. He also administered anointing of the sick.
Father Stenger joined St. Alphonsus as the parish began serving a growing number of Latinos, Father Grile said.
“He learned enough Spanish so he could start saying Mass, ministering to the people and hearing confessions,” he said.
Gina Mejia, a parishioner, said she began working with Father Stenger as a volunteer when the need for Spanish Masses became apparent. It was great to have Father Stenger leading them as he was “always willing and always had a smile,” she said.
Mejia said she and her husband, Ernest, learned a great deal from Father Stenger and will never forget the energy he brought to the Spanish Masses. “He did so much for the Latino community and will always be remembered,” she said.
Father Stenger is buried at the Redemptorist Cemetery in Liguori.
