MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
By Jenna Ross Star Tribune OCTOBER 11, 2016
The Rev. Tim Power didn’t lecture or teach. He didn’t quite preach. Instead, he told stories, expertly weaving them through the thousands of homilies he gave over his 24 years at Pax Christi Catholic Community in Eden Prairie.
Power told them inside and outside the church’s walls, with and often without his clerical collar. His stories were warm, wise and often self-deprecating.
“He was a storyteller,” said Patricia Baumer, a Pax Christi parishioner since 1989. “He helped people — and this is the highest praise I can give — he helped people encounter God in their own story.”
As the church’s founding pastor, Power also encouraged others to preach, bringing lay people to the front of the sanctuary. He was “more like an orchestra conductor,” Baumer said, “who drew out the best gifts of the baptized.”
Father Tim, as his thousands of parishioners knew him, died Sept. 21. He was 76. …
Power led a movement to start a local chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a grass-roots group born in the outrage over the scandal of sexual abuse by priests. He was among more than 100 active and retired priests who signed a letter imploring the Vatican to make celibacy optional for priests.
In 2012, as the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis fought for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, Power was among dozens of retired priests who signed a letter opposing the ban.
“Tim stood within the church,” said the Rev. John Bauer, pastor at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, “but was always willing to challenge issues and people that were of concern for him.”
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