About

Atop Our Lady of Chartres

Hello and welcome to my blog. Here you’ll find some of my homilies, pictures, jottings and random thoughts about everything from music, sports, the weather, TV, life in general or whatever may happen to be on my mind.

A bit about me: My name is Father Paul Kammen and I am a Catholic priest serving the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. I am the associate pastor at Saint Hubert’s Catholic Church in Chanhassen, a southwest suburb of Minneapolis. Our parish is just over 3,000 families. I’m 33 years of age, born 9/4/77, and was ordained on May 26, 2007. My previous assignment for the first two years of my priesthood was Holy Name of Jesus parish, located in Medina, one of the western suburbs of Minneapolis. I’ve loved being a priest. I think one of the most important things the priest does outside of the sacrifice is to preach, as this is the one chance to talk to the people for a day or week. I also think the web is a great way to communicate, so hope to not only put up homilies but other things to get in touch with people.

I’m originally from north Minneapolis, hence I may call our Archdiocese the Archdiocese of Minneapolis ). My family moved to Champlin when I was 10. I went to elementary school at Saint Bridgets (now closed) and Our Lady of Victory school (closing next year) both on the North Side, and then to Champlin Park High School. I went to North Hennepin Community College after that, then finished up a bachelor’s in political science at the U of M Twin Cities with a history minor. Right after that it was onto seminary for 6 years, and then I was ordained. I had part time jobs at a suburban weekly newspaper and was a bartender too. Went to the bartending school while at the U of M (this was not an on-campus program, as it probably is at the University of Wisconsin-Madison ). I bartended at a golf course, Bunker Hills. I found it fun and worked a lot of early shifts, so got to know a lot of the rangers and regulars there.

Some of my hobbies include writing (hence the blog). I have a published book on – in all seriousness – poker. I enjoy the game quite a bit and learned it from my grandfather. I play for small stakes, and so decided being I enjoyed the game of 7-card stud and writing, hey, why not combine the two! So I wrote a book and corresponded with a poker writer, who referred me, and the publishing company published it. I wrote a follow up on the game of 7-card stud eight-or-better, a hi-lo variation of the game that was all set to be published too, but alas fell through at the last minute so is now an “e-book.” Both books are for people new to the game and focus on small stakes only as I obviously can’t afford high stakes nor would it really look good or be appropriate for a priest to be sitting down in high-stakes cash games. I also wrote poker articles for a while online. I wrote them before I was a priest, and don’t plan another poker book; I just can’t see a priest writing a book on poker. But I would like to write a book on seminary and priesthood one day, or put out a book of homilies as I do write them all down, though preach on weekends walking around and not directly from the script.

Poker is a fun hobby, but not a love. What I really love in life (besides God of course!) are my friends and family. I love spending time with them whenever possible, and get together with friends at least one night a week, and spend my day off at my parent’s house. It’s so great to spend time with them and they have been so supportive of my vocation.

My other big hobby is photography. I love taking pictures and love looking for the perfect shot. I shoot with a Canon Powershot S-5. It’s got a 20x zoom which I like, and many customizable features, and I try to always have it in the car. I also shoot with an Olympus E-620 DSLR which I really like, and carry four lenses for it from wide-angle to the telephoto and a couple in between. I do a lot of nature and sponatneous shots which I hope to post on here. Photographs allow us to capture a moment in time and slow down and can take us back to places, or can tell such a story based on a light pattern or expression on someone’s face. I find it so relaxing and enjoyable.

I’m also an avid bowler. Sometimes I even go alone. What a great way to unwind.

Exercise is also a huge part of my life. I like to eat. I don’t cook, so frequent the Cub deli and use my panini press frequently, but also go out to restaurants all the time with friends. I like finding good places to eat, but am quite picky – Italian, pasta and pizza or anything between two slices of bread that has meat like a great burger or sandwich. Gonig on vacation I’ll often do a search for “Best burger in…” or “Best pizza in…,” so love finding good burger, sandwich and Italian places to dine in. (Convention Grill, Edina and Totinos Italian Kitchen, Spring Lake Park, are my favorite local places). Anything beyond that and I have serious doubts. Oh, and I like frozen custard too. This could be problematic. I don’t eat a ton of food each day, but do exercise daily be it a run on the trails or going to Lifetime Fitness, the gym down the road. I get so much energy from it, and try to do it in the morning. It gets me through the day!

My other interests include watching sports; I like baseball the best but also football and basketball, and watch the local teams. I signed up for XM in part for the baseball games – lisening to baseball on the radio driving around town can be so relaxing and the commentators are great. Hockey is lukewarm for me; I’ll watch it but I’m not a die-hard. I also like reading. Vince Flynn is my current favorite author; I enjoy fiction books that are political/spy/action thriller types, ala Tom Clancy and Vince Flynn. I’ll also read some books on poker, and of course theology books line my shelves too. I’m also into anything 80s, especially music. It’s the decade I grew up in, and am kind of perpetually mentally in ). Such great music, and it fills my ipod and is on my Internet radio station all day long. I also follow politics; I thought I’d work in the field one day, not running for office but behind the scenes, but felt God calling me elsewhere. Priests can’t run for office (thankfully!) but I still enjoy following political news.

I also enjoy history, TV and movies, though can’t quote movie trivia like my expert-friend Chris can. I was probably the only seminarian who subscribed to “the guide” – TV Guide ). Seinfeld is one of my favs, along with Quantum Leap. I’m also a “Trekkie,” and really enjoy the original series, TNG, and am hoping to start watching DS9 on DVD. “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ is also a fantastic show.

Well, congratulations, you have made it to the end of the “about me” stuff. Any more you’d like to know please drop me a line, or comment on my blog. My e-mail is paul.kammen@sthubert.org. God bless!

-Fr. Paul