Brainerd Catholic

St. Andrew’s Catholic Church

St. Andrew’s Catholic Church
1108 Willow Street
Brainerd, MN 56401

Queen of Peace Adoration Chapel

Location: Go into the NE front entrance of the church. The door is to your left as you enter the courtyard. Knock and someone will let you in.

In 1960, when St. Francis of Assisi parish in Brainerd grew to 900 families, Bishop Francis Schenk decided to start a new parish to the south of the town. In 1963 it was founded and named St. Andrew’s with its first pastor, Fr. Frank Melovasich.

From May 26, 1963, to the spring of 1965, Sunday Mass was celebrated in the Washington High School Auditorium. Groundbreaking for the new church and school complex took place on Sunday, June 7th, 1964 with the first Liturgy celebrated in the new church on Easter Sunday, April 18th, 1965.

Upon completion of the structure in 1965, the school was opened under the direction of the Franciscan Sisters from Newton, Massachusetts. However, the financial burden of the school was too heavy, and the school closed in 1969.

In August 2001 Bishop Dennis Schnurr clustered the parishes of St. Andrew’s, St. Francis, and St. Mathias under the pastorate of one priest, Fr. Seamus Walsh. In 2010, Bishop Paul Sirba clustered the parishes of St. Andrew’s, St. Francis, St. Mathias, All Saints, and St. Thomas of the Pines and appointed Fr. Tony Wroblewski as the pastor of this new cluster.

Beginning in July 2014, the parishes of the Brainerd area were then reorganized into two smaller clusters, with St. Andrew’s and St. Mathias forming the “south” cluster pastored by Fr. Daniel Weiske.

From the Fall of 2018 through the Spring of 2019, under the direction of Fr. Daniel Weiski, extensive renovations and expansions were made to the Church and office spaces, along with the creation of a new social hall and serving kitchen. The first Liturgy was celebrated in the new church on Palm Sunday, April 14th, 2019. Bishop Paul Serba dedicated the new worship space and consecrated the altar on June 22, 2019.

Currently, we are blessed to have five active priests, along with four permanent Deacons, who call St. Andrew's "home".

Finance Council

  • Jim Gogolin, Trustee

  • Lisa Haberman, Chair

  • Jesse Hopkins

  • Jim Hunt, Trustee

  • Rob Lang

  • Sharon Pike

  • Molly Ronnevik