Fr. John A. Klockeman joined St. Bartholomew Catholic Church and School as pastor on July 1, 2021. Previously, he served as pastor of St. Gerard Majella in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota for two years. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 27, 2000.
Fr. Klockeman was born and raised in West St. Paul, Minnesota, where his family were members at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Both of his parents have passed away. He is the fifth of six children. He graduated from Henry Sibling High School.
Fr. Klockeman has attended a number of universities and has multiple degrees and certificates. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing in 1986 from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona; a Master of Arts degree in theology and Christian ministry in 1996 from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio; and a Master of Divinity degree in 2000 from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, while studying at the St. Paul Seminary.
Fr. Klockeman has also studied at the Institute of Comparative Political and Economic Systems at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 1985; earned an International Business Certification at Arizona State University in 1986; a certificate for seminary formators at the Pontifical Anthenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome in 2004; and a certificate in the spirituality of the diocesan priesthood and spiritual direction from the Institute for Priestly Formation at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska in 2013. He also took a sabbatical in 2016 and studied at Casa Santa Maria, in Rome, Italy.
Since his ordination to the priesthood in May 2000, Fr. Klockeman has served in a rich variety of ministries. His first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Olaf Catholic Church in downtown Minneapolis from 2000 to 2003 where, in addition to his duties as Associate Pastor, he focused on outreach to young adults, catechesis, and wider public outreach on the cable television program, Generation Cross.
For the next six years he served as a spiritual director and formation director for the seminarians at St. John Vianney College Seminary at the University of St. Thomas. He also assisted at Mary, Queen of Peace Parish in Rogers, Minnesota.
From 2009 to 2019 Fr. Klockeman shifted to the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, the graduate-level seminary, where he served as Assistant Director of Spiritual Formation and taught a number of academic courses. He also served as an instructor at the Archbishop Harry J. Flynn Catechetical Institute and became its Director in 2017. On the weekends he assisted at parishes throughout the Archdiocese, and from 2014 to 2016 he was the regular assistant at St. Thomas in Corcoran, St. Anne in Hamel, and Sts. Peter and Paul in Loretto. In 2019 Fr. Klockeman was appointed Pastor of St. Gerard in Brooklyn Park.
Fr. Klockeman is widely acclaimed as an expert in Catholic spirituality. He has appeared locally and nationally on television and radio programs, conducted pilgrimages, led retreats and parish missions in many dioceses, and has been a speaker at conferences across the United States.