Father Stanley Wieser, 82, died Feb. 5, at the Traverse Care Center in Wheaton. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at Ave Maria Church, Wheaton, with Bishop Patrick Neary officiating. Burial will be in Wildwood Cemetery in Wheaton. A vigil service will be held Monday, Feb. 10, at 3 p.m. followed by visitation until 7 p.m. at Ave Maria’s. Visitation will continue Tuesday, Feb. 11, from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the Mass.
He was born June 25, 1942, in Wheaton, to Robert and Margaret (Crooks) Wieser. He attended school in Wheaton through ninth grade, and Saint John’s Preparatory School, Saint John’s University, and Saint John’s Seminary in Collegeville. Father Wieser was ordained by Bishop George Speltz at Ave Maria Church in Wheaton on June 3, 1968.
He was assistant pastor at the Villa of St. Francis Nursing Home, Morris; St. Anthony, St. Cloud and San Bartolome, Maracay, Venezuela. Father Wieser was pastor at St. Anthony, Fairmount, North Dakota; St. Charles, Herman; St. Theresia, Donnelly; St. Francis Xavier, Sartell; St. Leonard of Port Mauritius, Pelican Rapids; St. Gall, Tintah; St. Joseph, Foxhome; St. Mary of the Presentation, Breckenridge; St. Thomas, Kent; Ave Maria, Wheaton; St. Peter, Dumont; St. Anthony, Browns Valley; and St. Elizabeth, Elizabeth. He also was a missionary in Venezuela and chaplain at the St. Francis Medical Center in Breckenridge.
Father Wieser served as dean of the Morris Deanery for the St. Cloud Diocese from 2001 to 2007 and on the College of Consultors for the diocese from 2003 to 2012. He retired in 2012. He was a priest of the Diocese of St. Cloud for 56 years.
He is survived by his sisters, Joyce Katlack, Otsego, Minnesota; Joan (Mike) Schramm, St. Joseph; and Elizabeth (Brian) Rinke, Wheaton; brother, Stephen, Wheaton, and brother-in-law, Mike Larson, Wheaton. Father Wieser was preceded in death by his parents, sisters Janice and Kathleen, and brother-in-law Joe Katlack.