Brainerd Catholic
All Saints Catholic Church
All Saints Catholic Church
16898 Carlson Lake Rd, NW
Brainerd, MN 56401
All Saints is the newest member to the Brainerd/Baxter area and the newest parish to be built in the Diocese of Duluth for over 60 years. The formation of this new parish came out of a Diocesan Study known as the 2020 plan, which called for a steering committee to be established to look into the feasibility of building a new parish on the west side of the River that would help meet the needs of the growing populations in the Baxter area.
A 60 acre parcel of land north of Baxter and west of Highway 371 on Barbeau Road was bought as an investment by the diocese for a possible building site if and when a new parish would be built.
The steering committee that Bishop Schnurr established made their final report to him in May of 2007. Of the 10 recommendations made, one of those was to build a new parish on the west end. In August of that year, Bishop Schnurr appointed Deacon Mike and Lori Knuth to spearhead the building of the new faith community. On September 17 of that year, the Bishop celebrated the first Mass for the newly forming faith community at the Confidence Learning Center south of Madden’s Resort. This became the gathering and birth place for the faith community now known as All Saints. Once a month, for the next seven months, a different priest came and celebrated Mass at the Center. The fledgling community gathered to share the Eucharist, dreams and plans, great food, and fun.
On November 1, 2007, the Bishop issued a Decree of Canonical Erection calling the new parish All Saints, a name submitted by the young community because of 61 first class relics that had been donated to the newly forming parish. This paved the way for the Articles of Incorporation to be signed later that month with trustees named, Jeanette Houle and Greg Breen. In early March of 2008, Rev. Kris McKusky was assigned by the bishop as the first resident pastor and Deacon Knuth as the first deacon.
On March 17, a cold wintery day that year, the ground was broken and construction began on the multipurpose building that would house the new community. On May 25, 2008 the First Mass was offered in the worship area of the new building.
There have been many changes since our first gathering around the Eucharist in September of 2007. At that Mass, Bishop Schnurr stated that he wanted a faith community that was alive in the Spirit. A faith community that was full of the Spirit and vibrant. He said, “I see the need for the faith community to grow spiritually and that this spirituality must penetrate and drive the business end of things.” Our parish logo of the Chalice and Host inside a Church window symbolizes the essence of this growing faith community vision. It is Eucharistic centered, grounded in the traditions and teachings of the Catholic Church. It is family orientated and has a cross section of various ages represented in its 170 registered families. Hospitality, service, great food, and making sure you feel like you are at home and belong, are trademarks of the parish. It is a place of new beginnings where people are not merely a number, but are a face with a name and are welcomed to worship and to participate in a variety of fun activities and apostolates that are geared to build community and share in the mission of the Catholic Church.
We are the Church in the woods. Come into this quiet place and experience the love of God and worship with us. You might come as a stranger, but you’ll leave as friend of the family. Come join us as together we help each other become all saints.
Finally, in June of 2014 it was announced that there would be two clusters in the Brainerd Area. St. Andrew & St. Mathias would be clustered together and St. Francis, All Saints and St. Thomas of the Pines in the other. We currently have two separate offices, one located at St. Andrews and the other just behind St. Francis Church.
Saints & Relics
All Saints Catholic Church has a large reliquary filled with relics for you to see. We have compiled a little bit of information about each for you to be able to learn more about the Saints of All Saints!
