St. John Vianney Parish

Fr. Robert McAleer

(Fr. Mac's "Letter from Our Pastor" can be found every week in our parish bulletin)

Fr. Robert McAleer, (mostly known throughout his priesthood as Fr. Mac), was born December 29, 1944 in Clinton, IA. He is the fourth of six children of James and Helen McAleer. He was raised on a farm near Charlotte, IA and was a member of Assumption Parish in Charlotte. He began his education at Charlotte Public School until he transferred to St. Joseph School in DeWitt in the seventh grade and eventually graduated from St. Joseph High School in 1963.

In the fall of 1963 he enrolled at St. Ambrose College, (now St. Ambrose University), and graduated in 1967 with a B.A. in Philosophy. He spent one summer studying at the Universidad de las Americans, Mexico City and returned home to teach one semester at St. Ambrose during his senior year. In the summer of 1967 he enrolled at Notre Dame University where he completed his M.A. in Modern Languages the same year.

Fr. McAleer began his seminary training at Mount St. Bernard Seminary in Dubuque and completed his preparation to ordination to the priesthood at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, MN. He was ordained a Deacon on May 29, 1970 and was assigned to the Diaconate Internship at Sacred Heart in Fort Madison from August through November before returning to St. Paul Seminary to complete his studies. Fr. McAleer was ordained a Priest at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport on May 29, 1971.

Following ordination he was assigned as Associate Pastor in West Point and teacher at Marquette High School. In addition to teaching Religion classes, he began a new Spanish program at Marquette. He served four years at West Point and then was assigned to Notre Dame High School in Burlington and Administrator of St. Mary’s Augusta from June 1975 to June 1976. In June of 1976 he was assigned as Associate Pastor of St. Mary’s, Fort Madison where he remained until September 1978.

St. Elizabeth Parish in Harper then welcomed Fr. McAleer as their new Pastor in October 1978. In February 1979 he was assigned additional duties of Administrator of Saints Peter and Paul in Clear Creek. Immensely enjoying his first assignment as Pastor at Harper and Clear Creek, he served the parishes until October 1984.

On October 1, 1984, Fr. McAleer returned to St. Mary’s Parish in Fort Madison as Pastor. With the shortage of priests, Fr. McAleer was assigned additional duties as Pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish also in fort Madison. Having the experience of merging the parishes of Harper and Clear Creek, he was pioneer in merging parishes and was directed to merge St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s into a single parish with one worship location.

During his fifteen years as Pastor in Fort Madison he was involved on the Board of Education of Aquinas and was instrumental with Ecumenical efforts in Fort Madison where he was elected for twelve years as Head of the Fort Madison Ministerial Association. His life of service in Lee County for nearly 24 full years concluded with his new assignment to St. John Vianney Parish in Bettendorf in July 1999.

The assignment to St. John Vianney, to this present day, opened new challenges and opportunities for ministry for Fr. McAleer. The challenge of serving a larger parish that was nearly double the size of her former parish, ministering in a larger suburban area, and for the first time serving a parish that did not have a Catholic School in the parish were new adjustments for him. St. John Vianney in a unique parish with a large professional full-time staff that offers a new opportunity of sharing ministry collaboratively. Such an active parish with tremendous lay leadership and the staff demands changing styles of ministry.

Fr. McAleer has served on many diocesan committees and commissions; Presbyteral Council, Personnel Board, Diocesan Building Commission, Priests’ Aid Society, Pastoral Council, and is currently serving as a Judge on the Diocesan Marriage Tribunal.

While serving at each parish, Fr. McAleer was involved in projects of remodeling and building additional buildings of enlarging space for the parishes. He mentions that building projects are always great teachers of understanding the constituency of the parish.

With joy, he looks forward to continuing participation with the growing ministry and parish of St. John Vianney as long as he is given the opportunity to serve this wonderfully active and vibrant parish.

Fr. John Hynes (Retired)

Davenport native Fr. Hynes, attended Sacred Heart Cathedral School and St. Ambrose Academy in Davenport . He graduated from St. Ambrose College in 1951 and completed his theological studies at St. Mary Seminary in Baltimore .

He was ordained June 4, 1955, at Sacred Heart Cathedral by Bishop Hayes.

Fr. Hynes served as an assistant at St. Mary in Ottumwa from 1955 until 1965, St. Bonaface in Clinton from 1965 until 1967, and St. Joseph in DeWitt from 1967 until 1970. He then served as pastor at St. Joseph’s in Davenport from 1970 until 1983, St. Ann’s in Long Grove from 1983 until 1991, St. Paul the Apostle in Davenport from 1991 until 1994 and Our Lady of the River in LeClaire from 1994 until his retirement in 1998.

In his retirement, Fr. Hynes has been assisting with Masses at St. John Vianney in Bettendorf .

Msgr. Hendrickson (Retired)

A native of Clinton, Iowa , Monsignor Henricksen was born December 16, 1928, the son of Charles and Alice (Doyle) Henricksen. His parents and one sister, Loretta Smith, have passed away. A brother, James, resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, and his sisters, Helen Parson and Virginia Stella, reside in Clinton, Iowa and Wilmington, Delaware respectively.

Growing up in Clinton, Monsignor Henricksen attended St. Patrick Elementary School and St. Mary High School . He graduated from St. Ambrose College in Davenport and completed his theological studies at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota .

On June 4, 1955, he was ordained by the late Bishop Ralph L. Hayes at Sacred Heart Cathedral. He served as an associate pastor, then administrator of St. Mary Church in Fairfield from 1955 until 1967. From 1967 he served as assistant chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Davenport; administrator, then pastor of St. Mary Church in Davenport from 1975 until 1986; part-time faculty member at Assumption High School in Davenport from 1977 until 1985; pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Davenport in 1986; finally pastor if St. John Vianney Church in Bettendorf from 1986 until 1999.

During the same time assigned to Davenport , Monsignor Henricksen served as Managing Editor, then Editor of The Catholic Messenger, weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Davenport from 1967 until 2002.

He retired from active ministry in 1999. He still serves as supply ministry each weekend throughout the diocese and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of St. Ambrose University in Davenport; Priest Aid Society; the Priest Personnel Board; is Vicar for Religious of the Diocese; and Vicar for Clergy of the Diocese. He has resided in retirement in Cedar Bluff since 1999.

Dc. Bill Donnelly (Retired)

Check back soon for Bill’s biography

Dc. Daryl Fortin

Daryl Fortin was born to Gilbert (Bud) and Betty Fortin, on 13 January 1952, in Sioux City, IA and is the oldest of nine children. He is a product of the Catholic School system there, attending Immaculate Conception Grade School and Bishop Heelan High School. Daryl graduated from Columbia University in New York City in 1975 with a BS degree in Industrial Engineering. Shortly after graduation he went to work for John Deere in Waterloo, IA and worked there until transferring to Deere & Co. in Jan. ’99. Daryl also has a MBA degree from the University of Northern Iowa.

He married Pat (Patricia) in September 1971. They have two children and four grandchildren. Jennifer is 30, married, and lives in Cedar Rapids with her husband, Matt, their three children, Michael, Madisyn and Jackson. Sean, is 26, and lives in Davenport with his wife, Anne and son Elliott.

After many years working in various ministries at St. Patrick Parish in Cedar Falls, Daryl and Pat entered the Diaconate Formation program in 1989, and Daryl was ordained on 23 April 1994 at St. Raphael’s Cathedral in Dubuque. While at St. Patrick, his primary ministries were in the areas of marriage preparation, baptism preparation, and working with the RCIA process. He was also on the Archdiocese of Dubuque Lay Ministry Board and a member of the Diaconate Council.

Since coming to St. John Vianney, his ministries have focused on marriage and baptism preparation.