Father Kieffer a mainstay of OLV, the community

By Trisha Marczak (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Thursday, July 3, 2008

Most Catholic church services don’t wrap up with people leaping to their feet in a round of applause. But Our Lady of Victory’s Sunday service wasn’t like most — it marked the end of Father Bob Kieffer’s nine years of service to the Fergus Falls community.

Throughout the years, Kieffer, known commonly as “Father Bob,” has touched the lives of many people within the community. Whether at community events or at mass, parishioners have come to rely on the fact that “Father Bob” will be there wearing a smile.

Kieffer walked onto the Fergus Falls scene in July of 1999.

“It was right before the millennium,” he recalled.

He associates the time of his move to Fergus Falls with the Y2K scare — when reports claimed that a technological meltdown was sure to turn the world upside down.

As it happened, the computers didn’t go down and either did Kieffer.

Kieffer went to work, using his 30 years of experience to help create and maintain a number of charitable programs, aimed at spreading love and faith to people less fortunate throughout the Fergus Falls community and the world.

One particular passion of Kieffer’s is helping the people of Sudan, where a genocide in the Darfur region has claimed the lives of some 400,000 people and has displaced around 2.5 million. Kieffer worked to establish a support system for a Catholic parish in Sudan, and with the help of his parishioners, has successfully raised thousands for the Sudanese church.

Kieffer has also been busy coordinating church efforts with the Salvation Army, and taking up collections for earthquake victims in China and cyclone victims in Burma.

He said he’s constantly been amazed that despite parishioners’ hectic schedules, they’ve all managed to put in the time and energy to get things done.

“I never ever heard, ‘why should we be doing this?’,” Kieffer said.

He’s also enjoyed being a member of the wider Fergus Falls community and has appreciated the friendly nature of people of all faiths and beliefs.

And although he’s made many friends throughout the years in Fergus Falls, there is one in particular that stands out for Kieffer — his cat, Helga Marie.

“We are the best of friends,” he said.

But unlike the rest of his Fergus Falls friends, Helga gets to go along with Kieffer to Foley, the next step in his career.

His move to Foley is, what he expects, the end of the road for his career. Kieffer, now 65, plans to retire at age 70, and is looking forward to moving onto a smaller parish. Our Lady of Victory has some 800 families, while Foley’s has 500.

And although he knows it’s time to move on, he said he’ll never forget the people of Our Lady of Victory.

“People have been very kind and I am very touched,” Kieffer said. “I hope I have been a good pastor. I really care about them.”