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Parish Pastor, Fr. Steve Brunner

My name is Fr. Steve Brunner, and I will be your new “Parochial Administrator!” Parochial Administrator is a big word that essentially means “Pastor,” but it is often used in situations where there is a change in leadership. I am excited to come to your church, along with Fr. Mark and Fr. Sudhakar, and to teach you the Catholic faith and to deepen your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

I grew up in Yardley, Pennsylvania, which is a small town outside of Philadelphia. I grew up there with my two brothers Greg and Matt. I am 37 years old; Greg is 40, and Matt is 42. As a boy growing up in Yardley, I went to the public grade school and middle school. Then, for high school, I attended Holy Ghost Prep, which was an all-boys Catholic high school in the area. I was blessed throughout all those years to have great teachers in school and great coaches in sports. Among the sports I played, I enjoyed soccer, baseball, basketball, and hockey the most.           

One quality about myself for which I give thanks to God is that I have always been a good student. I’ve always been fascinated by math and science. So, leaving high school, I studied physics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, and then came to UW-Madison to study medical physics in graduate school. Some people love physics, and others hate it! I think you can imagine how I felt about it!

Things started to change for me in January 2011 when I attended the baptism of my niece, Miriam. I went to the baptism to be a good brother, and I left the baptism thinking, “How can I come back to the Catholic Church?” From that point on, I became active and involved in my Catholic faith, and eventually entered the seminary!

Fr. Mark Miller, Parochial Vicar

It is great to take a moment to introduce myself to you in this bulletin letter. There is much more to say. I look forward to meeting you and hearing more about YOU and YOUR story!

I’ve been a priest for eleven years, and I’m 43 years old. I grew up in Blanchardville, WI, a town of 800, just shy of an hour southwest of Madison. I grew up in town, but I worked on a farm in high school, and it’s made every job I’ve had since seem easy by comparison. My folks have retired and live in Cross Plains. My younger brother, Scott and his wife live in California.

I went to UW-Madison for Materials Science Engineering, and I worked briefly for the Kohler company in their brass foundry. While I grew up Lutheran – my dad was a Lutheran pastor – I had something of a conversion of heart in college that led to a lot of questions, and eventually, after graduating, to the Catholic Church. I'll tell you more about that eventually – I promise. I’m looking forward to getting to know you, building each other up in the Gospel, and making Grant County home.    

Fr. Sudhakar Reddy Devarapu, Parochial Vicar

I am from India and grew up in a town called Warangal in South India. I grew up there with my parents and with my only brother Ravi. I am 50 years old, and my brother Ravi is 47. From my third grade, I studied in a Catholic Boarding school run by P I M E missionary fathers from Italy. I was inspired by the life of Fr. Colombo, an Italian missionary priest who was in charge of our boarding school then. Inspired by his life, I decided to become a priest like him when I was in 5th grade. Then I joined the Apostolic seminary as a pre-seminary in my 6th grade, and I never looked back from then. After my 10th grade, I decided to continue my seminary studies and after 12 years of my seminary as well as academic studies, I was ordained as a priest in the year 2000 when I was 27 years old. It has been 23 years and I never regretted for becoming the priest.

            In 2016, I was given a chance to come to the USA to the Diocese of Madison to render my priestly services. I worked as a Parochial Administrator of St. Mathews Parish, Shullsburg WI for five years and presently working as an Associate Pastor at Our Lady Queen of Pease Parish, Madison. Once upon a time, I was inspired by an Italian missionary priest who worked in India and now I am happy to work in this great country as a missionary priest. Church is Universal and our needs are Universal too. I am happy to render my priestly services to the Universal Church.I look forward to meeting you and hearing more about you.

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