Introducing Fr. Ryan Andrew

Dear Parishioners of St. Luke’s:

Greetings! I am Fr. Ryan Andrew your new Associate Pastor.

I am very blessed and excited to be a part of the St. Luke’s community to learn from and minister to you. A little bit about myself:

I was born in Des Moines at Mercy hospital in 1986. I grew up on the Southside of Des Moines and went to St. Anthony’s Catholic school in kindergarten and then went to Christ the King Catholic school from 2nd grade through 8th grade.

Like many other kids, I was involved in and loved sports growing up. I played football, basketball, soccer and baseball. Baseball was my favorite sport though. I started playing when I was 6. When I was 8 years old, I began playing on an AAU team called the South Des Moines Reds which would be a big part of my life for the next 7 years.

Through the next 7 years, I attended Christ the King and played baseball, football, and basketball enjoying my time on the respective sports fields and courts. I didn’t practice my Catholic faith though outside of saying prayers at night before I went to bed during my time growing up as a kid at St. Anthony’s and Christ the King.

When I began high school at Dowling Catholic, I played on the freshmen football team and played a combination of positions that are a bit unusual. I started a few games at nose-guard, was a second string middle-linebacker, and was the “5th quarter” quarterback! I also wrestled my freshmen year and, of course, played baseball.

My freshmen year of baseball was a great success. One of my coaches told me if I worked at it over the next few years, I may be able to play at a Nebraska or Wichita State level of baseball program. So, I was even more immersed and excited about my baseball career than ever.

Over the next couple years at Dowling Catholic, I didn’t practice my faith outside of all-school Mass at Dowling Catholic and focused just on baseball.

I started at 3rd base my junior year but a couple of rough games found me on the bench in the first 3rd of the season and continued through the season. This was a difficult reality for me as I put all my eggs in the “basket” of baseball.

My senior year, I was invited to a retreat called Youth 2000 at the Dowling Catholic gym in January of 2004, my senior year. At this point, I still wasn’t thinking about my faith or practicing it. I was told by a Franciscan Sister, Sr. Clare Matthias, to go read for the first Mass of the retreat upon my first few minutes of joining the retreat. This changed my whole life. Literally.

After reading for Mass, I was now inserted into the retreat and remained for the duration. My whole life changed. I never considered that Jesus is real, that there is a whole supernatural world that exists that we can’t see, and that Jesus is truly present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist. This Youth 2000 retreat was the turning point of my life, my Catholic faith, and my relationship with Jesus.

After the Youth 2000 retreat, I made Christ-centered friends, I chose Christ-centered choices and chose a Christ-centered college to attend, Benedictine College.

After one year at DMACC, I began attending Benedictine College in the fall of 2005. It was here at Benedictine College that my Catholic faith grew exponentially and my vocation to the priesthood began to bud and bloom very quickly. Having 3 Masses available daily, Benedictine Monks and priests on campus, a College community of faith-filled young Catholics living out their faith authentically and boldly, all of this helped form and foster my call to first consider and then actually pursue seminary studies.

After I graduated from Benedictine College I entered the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul Minnesota. After a couple years in the seminary it was on a 5 day silent retreat in front of the Blessed Sacrament that Jesus gave me the undeniable, powerful, and divine peace of knowing I was called to be a priest. Over the next few years I looked toward the day of my ordination to the priesthood which was Dec. 14th, 2018 at St. Ambrose Cathedral.

Over the past 4 years, I was the chaplain at Dowling Catholic High School, teaching and ministering to the students, staff and faculty as well as providing weekend sacramental assistance during that time first at St. Pius X in Urbandale and later at St. Boniface in Waukee.

I am blessed to be here at St. Luke’s and I look forward to getting to know everyone and draw closer to Jesus with you. St. Luke the Evangelist, pray for us!

In Christ,
Fr. Ryan Andrew