“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; upon his shoulder dominion rests.  They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.” - Isaiah 9:5

December 8, 2020

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Blessed Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and happy Advent and Christmas Seasons!  I pray that this time of preparing for the coming of our Lord at Christmas and His second coming is blessed and fruitful!  I wanted to take this opportunity to share just a bit more about myself, especially since in this time of a pandemic I haven’t been able to connect with you as much as I’d like, so I hope this Christmas letter helps in that process of you getting to know me as your pastor!

I was born in Gillette, WY and grew up on a cattle ranch, just north of Moorcroft.  I have 2 brothers, Gregory and Paul (many of you already know Gregory as he went to St. Laurence O’Toole when he was studying at UW).  Initially when I graduated from High School I had planned to get a Computer Science degree at the South Dakota School of Mines/Technology (SDSM&T) in Rapid City, SD and so I studied there for three years before listening to God’s call for me to enter seminary to study to become a priest.  I had noticed that although I was doing very well academically in Computer Science, I wasn’t feeling joyful or fulfilled in my studies.  I began to realize that Computer Science may not be where God was calling me to be (although my knowledge acquired there is useful in my priestly ministry, praise the Lord!). As I found joy in helping with the ministries at the Cathedral in Rapid City and in being a Team member for various Catholic Search retreats in North Dakota (where my roommate was from), I began to realize that God was asking something different from me and that He was calling me to consider the priesthood more seriously than I had when I was younger.  I made the decision to end my studies at SDSM&T and enter seminary to study for the Diocese of Cheyenne.  I studied at Conception Seminary College (a Benedictine Monastery) in Conception, MO for two years and received my philosophy degree and then spent four years in Denver at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary where I received my Master’s in Theology.  The six years in seminary were an absolutely foundational time for me both on a human level and a spiritual level.  I became a better man as I discovered my foundational identity as a Beloved Son of God the Father (this is every person’s identity too, being Beloved Sons and Daughters of God!) and this reality changed my life.  No longer was I focused on seeing myself as someone who was unable to be loved (as bullying in High School implied to me), but rather I grew in my identity as a Son and realized that the love of God made me worth everything to Him and that was most important.  In fact, this is the essence of the Nativity!  God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to us to bring us eternal life (c.f. John 3:16).  This reality of God’s love is not based on any merits from us, but on His absolute love for us, as our Heavenly Father!  We only need to cooperate with His grace.  These truths changed my life as I grew closer to Him and then was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of St. Mary in Cheyenne, WY on May 20, 2016.  I spent my first year of priesthood at St. Stephens Indian Mission (near Riverton) ministering on the Wind River Reservation, which was quite the challenge for my first year, but God’s grace kept me going and able to minister there to the best of my ability.  The next three years I served as one of the associate pastors at the Cathedral of St. Mary in Cheyenne and loved my time there.  Now, I am the parochial administrator here at St. Laurence O’Toole and I am so excited to be here!

On a more fun human level, I am a huge Star Wars fan, as I’m sure many of you already know.  In fact I host a Catholic and Star Wars themed podcast where my co-hosts and I talk Star Wars from a Catholic point of view (www.sqpn.com/starwars); I’m even referred to as “Father Fett” in the Star Wars community and in our podcast (if you’re on instagram, follow me @fatherfett)!  I consider myself a geek as I love many things in the Science Fiction and Movies/TV realms (including Doctor Who, Marvel, DC, Video Games, The Amazing Race, just to name a few!).  I am also a runner (although during the pandemic I haven’t done this as much as I should have) and I have run a number of half-marathons and have also completed a sprint distance triathlon, with another one scheduled for next summer.  I love to travel and have been to Rome a couple times as well as Lithuania, Poland, Mexico, Guatemala, Canada, and across the USA (I love visiting Washington D.C.) and can’t wait to travel again once it’s safe to!

I hope that this has been a great snapshot of who I am as your pastor and that you feel free to reach out to me if you need anything and get active in our parish (especially once restrictions are lifted)!  In light of that, I also would like to streamline communications between all of our parishioners beyond just the bulletin; we have a new website which is much more user friendly and informative (www.stlaurenceotoole.org) and I want to implement a service called Flock Note, which allows us to send text messages and emails to all of our parishioners or certain groups at once (with your permission of course as you need to sign up).  You would then have the ability to text or email back in response and we would be able to engage through that medium.  I am hoping that this will be a great way to better communicate and keep in touch with what is going on in the parish and with you on a more consistent and personal basis that isn’t relying only on the bulletin for this kind of encounter (especially as many aren’t getting the bulletin or are unable to come to Sunday Mass at this time).  My hope is that this gives all of us a better way to build relationships with one another and grow in our parish family so that we are better evangelizers to our community and world.  Your information will never be shared or distributed and will only be used for parish communications, and all I need from you is for you to go to the following website and sign up if you want to be a part of this (and I encourage you to do so!):

Praying you have a blessed Advent and Christmas Season and hope to see you at Mass!

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Andrew Kinstetter

617 S 4th Street

Laramie, WY 82070

307-745-3115

akinstetter@stlaurenceotoole.org