ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC SCHOOL

Fr. Redinger and his family moved around the state often through the years, but he considers St. Michael Parish in Hastings to be his home parish. Growing up, Fr. Redinger was very involved at Camp Kateri Tekakwitha near McCool Junction, attending Sky Camp and Leadership Camp. “It was a really big part of my life before junior high and planted the seeds of vocation.”

Fr. Redinger says he had a “pretty typical Catholic background” growing up, but didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. An encounter with a priest when his family lived in Crete changed all of that. The pastor at Sacred Heart Church (St. James Parish) was Father Paul York, who fell ill when Fr. Redinger was a freshman in high school. During a visit to Fr. York in the hospital, Fr. Redinger went to the hospital chapel to pray and found himself being totally convinced of Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist for the first time in his life. From that point on, he was convicted in his vocation. “I went through high school with that in the back of my mind. I couldn’t get rid of it.”

After graduating from Shelton High School in Shelton, Fr. Redinger attended St. Gregory the Great Seminary before moving on to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, PA. There, he took a spiritual year then entered into his first semester of classes in the fall of 2019.

Now, Fr. Redinger is looking forward to being a priest and accompanying people on their journey through life, whatever that may entail, and being someone they can talk to, so they know they’re not alone. After living in so many different places, Fr. Redinger is excited to come home to Nebraska.