Father Stephen Adrian had a practice at every baptism he performed at St. Matthew in St. Paul, where he served as its longtime pastor. Later in the Mass after the baptism, he would hold the child up at the altar during the offertory for all to see. Then, he would walk back to the parents, cuddle the child briefly and whisper these simple words into the child’s ear: “God loves you.”
Griffin Goldenstein, the child of Daniel and Michaela Goldenstein, heard these words from the priest at his baptism Oct. 26. It was one of the final acts of ministry by Father Adrian, who died Dec. 1 after a nine-month battle with lung cancer. He was 82.
Daniel Goldenstein heard these same words at his own baptism, as did his three siblings. His father, Scott, grew up in the parish and went to St. Matthew School during the time that Father Adrian served there (1978-2012). Daniel’s mother, Kathy, joined the parish in 1976 with her family. She worked closely with Father Adrian, known by many as Father Steve, in her numerous volunteer roles at the parish.
“I could go on for hours about (Father) Steve Adrian and his influence,” said Kathy, 62. “There’ll never be another one like him.”
She has been powerfully moved by the way Father Adrian instilled God’s love into every child he baptized, including her own.
“That is the one thing my children know beyond a shadow of a doubt — that God loves them — because of the way (Father) Steve Adrian talked about how God loved them their entire life,” she said. “My kids heard that from the moment they were baptized until the moment he (Father Adrian) died. And I told him that (recently, in his final days). I said, ‘You know, that is the basis of their faith.’ And he gave me a thumbs up, and he said, ‘That is the final answer to the final question on the final exam. If they’ve learned that, then I’ve done my job.’”
Father Adrian was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1968 and served at two parishes before St. Matthew: Incarnation in Minneapolis (1968-1972 and 1974-1978) and St. Leonard of Port Maurice in Minneapolis (1972-1974).
Another mark of Father Adrian’s ministry was his passion for Catholic education. He helped lead St. Matthew’s parish school while he was pastor, then helped form a consolidated school in 2012 after he retired as pastor. He was part of a group that launched Community of Saints Regional Catholic School, which serves the parishes of St. Matthew and Our Lady of Guadalupe, both in St. Paul; St. John Vianney in South St. Paul; and St. Michael in West St. Paul. The school is in the former school building at St. Michael.
Bridget Kramer, who previously taught at St. Matthew, stayed on when the new school was formed, then became principal in 2014. She gave Father Adrian a heavy dose of credit for the school’s current status: 236 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, a number that has held steady thanks to a tuition assistance program that Father Adrian helped start, made up of school alumni and other friends of the school.
“It was obviously a huge transition to combine four parishes and three parish schools together to form a regional school,” she said. “He was definitely a leader in that. And really, he’s one of the reasons I stayed on board and wanted to see through the transition, because I believed in his mission and vision, and I wanted to be a part of it.”
So have many others, who have financially supported the school. Kramer noted that the fundraising efforts through the Alums and Friends and Families group raised more than $430,000 last school year and this past summer surpassed the $4 million mark. In addition, the school is collaborating with the St. Paul-based Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota to create the Father Steve Adrian Catholic Education Endowment Fund. It will launch sometime this winter, Kramer said.
Father Martin Warren, who shared a house with Father Adrian in Mendota Heights, said retirement was mostly a foreign concept to Father Adrian, who reluctantly stepped aside from his role as canonical administrator of the school in April, one month after his terminal cancer diagnosis. He had retired from the parish in 2012 due to health issues, including heart bypass surgery, but staged a comeback that included helping launch Community of Saints and becoming its canonical administrator in 2015.
Father Warren, who came to the United States in 1981 from the Archdiocese of Birmingham in England and met Father Adrian in 1987, said Father Adrian had planned to write a book and continue serving at the school until his illness forced him to step aside. He also was helping at the parish with Masses and other tasks.
When the end of ministry finally came for Father Adrian, who also helped the poor and needy in the neighborhood by launching St. Mary’s medical clinic at St. Matthew plus a Loaves and Fishes program that operates several days a week, he gave Father Warren a funny wisecrack — his trademark — about how he viewed it.
“He would say from time to time, ‘I failed retirement,’” said Father Warren, 70. “It’s like if you were grading him on this project called retirement, he failed.”
Those who knew Father Adrian likely would disagree with him about any reference to failure. Rather, they continue to pour forth many compliments about who he was as a person and a priest. In addition to the baptisms, Kathy Goldenstein noted how Father Adrian would memorize the Gospel passage each Sunday and read it word for word without looking at the book.
He once took it a step further 19 years ago during the Palm Sunday Mass at St. Matthew. He read the Passion “all alone, the entire thing,” Goldenstein said. “And it was the most powerful rendition of the Passion I’ve ever heard.”
The funeral Mass for Father Adrian will be 11 a.m. Dec. 21 at St. Matthew, with evening prayer and vespers 7 p.m. Dec. 20. Interment will be at Riverview Cemetery in St. Paul.
