Father Brandes remembered as a man who loved the outdoors and the priesthood

By Dave Hrbacek

The Catholic Spirit

Throughout most of his life, Father John Brandes loved spending time outdoors, especially at a family cabin in northern Minnesota and in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The priest who considered wooded regions of northern Minnesota his “happy place” died Jan. 10 at age 96.

His niece, Monica Shearon, recalled trips up north with him starting in her childhood and extending into her adult years. She looked forward to those trips, taking advantage of opportunities to spend time with her beloved uncle.

“I was very, very close to my Uncle John,” said Shearon, 60, a mother of five adopted children who belongs to Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis and is a graduate of Hill-Murray School in Maplewood. “He was definitely like a second father to me.”

She recalled one time as a young adult when she was having a tough time while living in Europe. “I remember having kind of a spiritual crisis and coming to him and saying, ‘I’m just really struggling,’” she said. “And, he just literally stopped everything he was doing and created a one-day retreat for me, which ended in front of the Blessed Sacrament. It was so beautiful. I had never been to adoration, I never had that experience.”

Father Brandes grew up in north Minneapolis and was ordained to the priesthood in 1951. His first assignment was at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, where he served from 1951 to 1986. After that, he became the founding pastor of St. Rita in Cottage Grove, where he served from 1966 to 1972. Other parishes where he served include St. Mark in St. Paul (1972 to 1986), St. William in Fridley (1987 to 1993) and St. Boniface in northeast Minneapolis (2004 to 2012, when he retired). He also spent 11 years in Guatemala at San Lucas Tolimán, a mission parish of the Diocese of New Ulm.

In recent years, he served as a chaplain at Catholic Eldercare in northeast Minneapolis where he lived. He stepped down from that role in 2020, but continued to spend time with his brother Ray, who lived in the same building but eventually moved to the full nursing care unit in an adjacent building.

In addition to his priestly ministry, Father Brandes was politically active, Shearon noted. He took part in protests against the manufacture of certain military weapons, and once “climbed a fence” at a Honeywell plant in the Twin Cities to engage in an act of peaceful protest.

There was one problem: Shearon’s dad — Father Brandes’ brother-in-law — worked there.

“My dad is an electrical engineer for Honeywell, and John is getting arrested for climbing the fence — I always found that funny,” Shearon said. “And, it was really interesting how they were each other’s best friend. But, they sat in different political arenas and still loved each other and respected each other.”

The funeral Mass for Father Brandes was Jan. 23 at St. Boniface in northeast Minneapolis. Interment was at St. Mary’s Cemetery in south Minneapolis.