The Kral family — Jeff, Paula and their four children — won’t forget Father Randal Kasel’s first Mass after he was ordained for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on May 28, 2005.

Paula describes the beautiful Novus Ordo Latin high Mass Father Kasel chanted, then the Eucharistic procession with nearly 100 people including Knights of Columbus in full regalia, little altar servers and First Communicants in picture-perfect clothes.

“Father was holding Jesus in the monstrance right close to his eyes and, with all the things going on around him, you could see he was absolutely adoring Jesus with no distractions,” Paula recalls. “My four children made it through that 2½-hour Mass without a peep — and that’s not normal.” 

Assigned to the Church of St. Raphael in Crystal, Minn., 33-year-old Father Kasel (KAY-sel) leaves no doubt about one, easy-to-see reality: He’s a Eucharistic and Marian priest cut from the cloth of Pope John Paul II.

Parishioners like Carrie Schmitz even see this in the way Father Kasel’s answering machine greets callers: “Praised be Jesus Christ through Mary!”

Coming from a young priest with a zeal for souls, that greeting “immediately takes you into the presence of Christ through the love of his and our mother,” says Schmitz. “It creates a sense of peace even before you begin talking. Being able to communicate all that in six words is very powerful.”

Carrie, husband Joseph, and their nine children not only appreciate the way Father Kasel blessed their home with holy water and blessed salt, but also that he enthroned the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary there.

Doug and Jennifer Wagner say Father Kasel’s holiness has led them to improve their devotions and prayers. Jennifer describes the excitement her 4-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter show over Father Kasel. “They’d rather see him than a movie star,” she says. “They think a priest is the greatest thing on the face on the earth.”

The Wagners’ love for our Blessed Mother went up a few notches after Father Kasel baptized their new baby girl last July and asked if they wanted her dedicated to Mary.

“It was just the most beautiful thing,” says Jennifer. “We had some eating difficulties with her prior to that time and, when she was dedicated to Mary, everything fell into place.” Shortly after, the parents had Father Kasel dedicate their other two children to Mary.

“We’ve never been aware of all these things he does,” Jennifer says gratefully. “It brings all of us closer to God and makes us realize how special Mary is.”

Marian Magnanimity

Evidently Marian devotion is contagious. Father Kasel believes the Blessed Mother’s intercession was key in his becoming a priest as he began praying the Rosary more fervently and diligently.

In his homilies, he often reminds his parishioners how Jesus gave Mary to the Church while hanging on the cross. “We’re called to honor and love her; hence the appropriateness of processions, the Rosary, holy cards statues and pictures,” he says. “It is necessary to have some sort of devotion to Mary. All the greatest saints agree that devotion to Mary is the surest sign of salvation.”

“I very much like to support families by blessing their homes, enthroning them home to the Immaculate Heart and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and encouraging people to live a Christian vision of families,” the priest adds. “I want to give them everything they need to live a holy life.”

Recently, after anointing and giving Holy Communion to a man named Rocky who was near death at home, Father Kasel told him about the brown scapular and Mary’s promises related to it. Rocky, an adult convert to the Church, had never heard of the scapular but was eager to enroll.

“His wife said he wore the scapular when he died,” says a happy Father Kasel.

 “It’s an affirmation of what God is doing through me as a priest. The priesthood is meant to help people get to heaven.”    

The Family Way

For Father Kasel, the New Evangelization goes on continuously.

“I’m always looking for opportunities to talk about Christ, to give honor to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to witness to somebody,” he says. “The Holy Spirit provides. Whether I’m at the gym or grocery store or church, I have been inspired to talk to someone, give out a scapular, medal, holy cards, Rosaries. It is important to take time to answer questions. God takes it from there.”

The New Evangelization also means preaching solid doctrine.

“People need to hear the teachings and the truth not once, but repeated,” he insists. Why? Because “the world is giving a message that contradicts the truth,” he explains. “The Gospel is not the false reality of self-glorification the world wants us to believe, but the reality of sacrifice, suffering with Christ on the cross.”

He’s on a roll now.

Joseph Pronechen writes from

Trumbull, Connecticut.