Father Robert Harren has done a lot in his 50 years serving as a priest for the Diocese of St. Cloud. He has served as pastor, as vicar general, as chancellor, and has reviewed books for the imprimatur for the past 30 years.
But Father Harren said one of the bright spots of his priestly ministry has been his work with families and marriage, and it is because of this work that he will receive the 2023 Humanae Vitae award, which will be presented Thursday, July 27, at St. Mary’s Cathedral.
“I’m surprised that I was chosen, but I’m grateful and honored to receive this special award because I’ve known many other recipients and I have a high regard for them,” Father Harren said.
The Humanae Vitae award is given annually to a person from the Diocese of St. Cloud who has demonstrated an extraordinary effort in promoting the teachings of Humanae Vitae, St. Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical that explains God’s plan for married love and the transmission of love.
Father Harren’s ministry in promoting marriage and family life spanned quite a few disciplines. From 1970-1988, he worked at the diocesan chancery office, where he served as chancellor and vicar general. During that time, in addition to serving as pastor in parishes, he worked with the family life directors, where they were always involved with marriage and family life issues.
“I was always happy to be a part of that and to promote it in any way I could,” he said.
That promotion included helping with marriage preparation. Father Harren worked with couples through their diocesan marriage preparation courses and was the celebrant for the Mass during Marriage Encounter weekends. He also promoted Natural Family Planning in parishes.
“NFP enhances the marriage relationship, and it does so much to strengthen marriages and family life,” he said.
Father Harren said what prompted him to want to work with family life and promote NFP was that he saw it as “part of the beauty of our faith.”
“It’s a beautiful teaching based on fundamental principles like the dignity of the human person and ties that in with God’s plan for us as humans. … it’s the best plan I’ve ever seen for enhancing human life and Christian marriage and family life,” Father Harren said.
Another aspect of Father Harren’s work included reviewing theology books for the imprimatur, or the mark of approval from the bishop that certifies that a book on theology is in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
“Our Christian faith offers us an amazing coherent and attractive vision of the human person. It always goes back to the dignity of the human person and that teaching of our faith begins by emphasizing that each person has inherent dignity and is loved by God who has willed us into being. … it’s such a key issue of our whole proclamation of the Gospel to promote the dignity of human persons,” Father Harren said.
Father Harren also stressed the importance of families, saying families are the “most important segment of our society.”
“We call that the domestic church for a good reason. Jesus is there so intimately with couples who are married, so I think Humanae Vitae promotes God’s vision for marriage and for love and for life. It’s just a beautiful plan on God’s part,” he said.
Sheila Reineke, director of NFP for the diocese, called Father Harren a leader in the work of promoting the teachings of Humanae Vitae and a blessing as he helped couples prepare for marriage.
“In the early days of Natural Family Planning, in the 1970s and the 1980s, when Humanae Vitae came out, it seemed new, so people needed to learn what Natural Family Planning is. Even the priests themselves needed to learn about how to help couples live Humanae Vitae. Father Harren was a leader in that area of understanding Church teaching and understanding Humanae Vitae,” she said.
“I think it’s very precious that we share this with others and encourage others to take it up because it produces marvelous results in marriages and our society as a result,” Father Harren said. “I just hope we can do more to strengthen families in whatever ways we can.”
If you go:
The Humanae Vitae awards ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 27, at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Bishop Patrick Neary will present the award to Father Harren.