Fr. Joseph Bruemmer

Fr. Joseph Bruemmer, O.S.C., a Crosier of Onamia, died on January 29, 2010 at 90 years of age. Funeral services will be held in the Priory Church of Holy Cross in Onamia on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 with Office for the Dead at 8:30 a.m. and Eucharist at 10:30, followed by burial in the Crosier cemetery. For several years Fr. Joe was cared for at the Mille Lacs long term care center in Onamia. He was born in Farming, MN, attended Crosier Seminary in Onamia, joined the Crosiers in 1942, and was ordained a priest in 1947. Fr. Joe Bruemmer had a very diverse career as a Crosier priest. He served as a teacher and counselor for a high school seminary in Indiana and for a high school in New York, as a Crosier vocation director, director of novices, as secretary for the Provincial, and as the Asmat mission procurator. He served in parishes in Michigan, Phoenix and Sun City, AZ. He was preceded in death by his parents, Theodore and Anna (Niehaus) Bruemmer and his siblings, Jerry (Opal) Bruemmer, Leo (Colie) Bruemmer, Ceil (Al) Lauer, Marge (Gus) Heitjan, Lawrence (Dotty) Bruemmer. He is survived by many nieces and nephews. One of Fr. Joe's most memorable events was traveling to New Guinea in 1969 for the ordination of Crosier Father Alphonse Sowada as the first bishop of Papua, Indonesia. This in-depth experience of the mission to the Asmat people inspired Fr. Joe to preach the missions for many years in hundreds of parishes around the country.