Father Albert Arthur Holmes, 81, died April 14 at his home in Henning. A graveside service celebrating his life will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 23, with Father Michael Kellogg as celebrant at the Crystal Lake Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Family and friends may gather Tuesday, April 22, at Sacred Heart Church in Flensburg from 5 until 8 p.m. A vigil led by Father Patrick Hoeft will begin at 7:30 p.m.
He was born March 26, 1944, in Minneapolis to Arthur and Eleanor (Shove) Holmes. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, he completed seminary studies at Christ Seminary in Chicago and was ordained a Lutheran minister in New York City in 1975. For the following 12 years he served parishes in Long Island.
He was received into the Catholic Church on Aug. 15, 1986, and began studying for the priesthood at Saint John’s Seminary, Collegeville. He was ordained Feb. 6, 1993, by Benedictine Bishop Jerome Hanus at St. Mary’s Cathedral, St. Cloud.
Father Holmes served as associate pastor at St. Francis Xavier, Sartell; and administrator at St. Joseph, Bertha, and St. Edward, Henning. He was pastor at St. Ann, Wadena; St. Hubert, Blue Grass; St. John the Baptist, Bluffton; Assumption of Our Lady, Menahga; and St. Frederick, Verndale, and sacramental minister at St. Wendelin, Luxemburg, and St. Mary Help of Christians, St. Augusta. He retired in 2014.
Father Holmes served on the Ecumenical Commission and as chaplain at the St. Cloud Hospital. He ministered to the Traditional Latin Mass communities at St. John Cantius, St. Cloud, and Sacred Heart, Flensburg.
Father Holmes is survived by his sister, Sharon Reemtsma. He was preceded in death by his parents, and sisters, Carol Bossong and Georgianne Kruize, and brothers-in-law, William Bossong and Myron Reemtsma.