A Message from Fr. Seth & Mary Claire Sitek

For my bulletin article next week I am pleased to use something written by one of our parishioners. The article is about my classmate and former assistant at St. John’s & St. Joseph’s, Fr. Ben Hadrich.

Know of my prayers for you as we begin this Advent season. –Fr. Seth

Fr. Ben Hadrich
3915 Golden Valley Road
ME 78440
Golden Valley, MN 55422

Father Ben Hadrich

Many of you remember Fr. Ben Hadrich, ordained to the priesthood with Fr. Seth and four fellow seminarians, in 2012.  Fr. Ben’s “teaching parish” assignment prior to ordination was at St. John’s and St. Joseph’s.  This was a four year required commitment of seminarians.  It allowed him to become familiar with the parishes and was helpful when his first assignment upon ordination was an additional two years with us.

I received the greatest gift of my life on June 22nd, 2012–being ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. I absolutely love being a priest. It was what I was made to do and I have never experienced as much peace and joy since having been ordained. –Father Ben

 While here, he endeared himself to the school and parish communities.  Since then he has been the pastor of St.  Thomas Aquinas, International Falls, and St. Columban, Little Fork, assignments beloved by him and his people.

In August 2015, upon completion of a marathon, Father Ben, an avid athlete all his life, suffered a stroke that left him in need of serious rehabilitation. We saw him approach this part of his journey with the same enthusiasm and commitment with which he prepared for the 21 marathons and Iron Man competitions he trained for.

In the five years hence, Fr. Ben has suffered two additional strokes, the most recent being in September of this year.

I’d like to alert you to our parish website where a blog post following his Caring Bridge site has been updated every time a new journal entry becomes available.

Fr. Ben’s preparation for athletic competition throughout his life serves as a metaphor for how he treats his rehab—commitment to grueling hard work.  I invite you to visit this post to receive a more accurate portrayal of the extent of work required of him to become healthy again.

We hope our parishes will flood the rehab center (address below) with get-well cards and birthday cards (Dec. 8) for him.  Remember: this is Covid time and visitation is restricted.  This is an added cross he is bearing. A man who is so social, he treasures and thrives on family time, visits with brother priests and his many friends.

Fr. Ben Hadrich
3915 Golden Valley Road
ME 78440
Golden Valley, MN 55422

St. Sebastian, patron saint of athletes (and Fr. Ben’s favorite saint), pray for him and us.