Fr. Phillip Rask Guest Celebrant

Fr. Rask was born in Minneapolis and attended school at St. Stephen’s parish and then De La Salle High School, graduating in 1964. He attended Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary in Arden Hills, 1964-66, and graduated from the St. Paul Seminary in 1968. After four years of theology there, he was ordained to priesthood in 1972. His first assignment was at Immaculate Conception Parish in Columbia heights. After five there he was asked to join the faculty of the Saint Paul Seminary and went for further studies to the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., earning the License in Sacred Theology and completing the Ph.D. in Biblical Studies in 1990. He returned to the seminary in 1982 to begin teaching bible and biblical languages. In 1993 he was appointed rector of the seminary by Archbishop John Roach and a vice-president of the University of St. Thomas by Fr. Dennis Dease. While at the seminary, he served as weekend associate at Holy Name parish, Minneapolis, All Saint in Lakeville, and Holy Trinity in St. Paul and was chaplain of the Saint Paul Downtown Serra Club, an organization devoted to fostering vocations to priesthood and religious life.. Fr. Rask left the seminary in 2002 to return to parish work, first at Presentation in Maplewood and for 14 years at St. Odilia in Shoreview. He retired from active ministry in June 2021 and now lives at the Byrne Residence for Retired Priests on the campus of the University of St. Thomas.