Father Frank Palmer celebrates 60th anniversary as a priest
April 13, 2022
Father Frank Palmer calls himself “a simple Italian priest.”
His impact over his 60 years as a priest has been anything but simple.
The longtime pastor, teacher and retreat leader has devoted his life to shepherding the faithful through the Church renewal changes of Vatican II and the ups and downs of everyday life.
On June 3, he celebrates his 60th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. 
Reflecting on his many years of service in both urban and rural parishes, he said the most rewarding part was “meeting with people in their sorrows and their joys and trying to help them.”
Raised in a family with five brothers and one sister, Father Palmer had two older brothers who were priests: Fathers Anthony and Sam Palmer. They inspired him to consider a vocation to the priesthood. Priests who served at Dowling High School also encouraged him to consider a religious vocation.
He studied at Mt. St. Bernard Seminary, in Dubuque, in the years before the Second Vatican Council and questioned if the priesthood was right for him.
Then he read an inscription printed in Latin that said, “What shall I give to the Lord for all the things that he has given me?”
“That kind of struck me,” he said. “That solidified my decision to be a priest.”
Father Palmer was ordained in 1962 by Bishop Edward C. Daly, OP. He began his years of serving parishes at St. Patrick in Council Bluffs and Immaculate Conception in Creston. In 1968, he became a teacher at St. Albert School in Council Bluffs. In 1974, he and friend Sam Cordaro began a diocesan team ministry called Retreat for the Christian Community, which was used throughout the Diocese of Des Moines, Sioux City, Dubuque, Cleveland, St. Louis and beyond. When Cordaro left, Father Palmer invited his former classmate, the late Father Jim Kiernan, to help.
“We would go into a school and first do an orientation with volunteer parents and faculty for one or two days,” he said. “Then we’d take on the whole school for four days” as part of parish renewal following Vatican II. Parish retreats were a full week during the evenings.
He served St. Patrick Parish in Bayard and St. Joseph Parish in Jamaica before becoming director of Family Life, which was an office in Catholic Charities, formerly called the Catholic Council for Social Concern.
There, he led Marriage Encounter, Engaged Encounter and Beginning Experience workshops.
“I did a lot of work with couples and I found that kind of fulfilling,” he said. “I learned a lot from those folks about real life.”
His sister, Mary Grochala, supported his ministry by making lasagna for up to 150 people who would be at his pre-marriage workshops while raising her family of nine children.
“If she’s not in heaven, I don’t know who else is,” he said.
In 1981, he returned to parish ministry, serving All Saints and St. Mel in Des Moines, St. Joseph in Winterset, and St. Thomas Aquinas in Indianola.
Retired since 2006, Father Palmer has assisted at St. Pius X Parish in Urbandale and Holy Trinity Parish in Des Moines. Currently, he assists at his home parish of St. Anthony in Des Moines.
Sixty years ago, when Father Palmer was ordained a priest, he wrote, “A priest is someone who brings God to men and men to God.”
Today, he said, “Hopefully, I’d like to think I did some of that.”
While there will not be a gathering to celebrate his anniversary, congratulatory cards can be sent to Father Palmer at 4460 88th St., Urbandale, IA 50322.
Another priest, Father John Acrea, is also celebrating his 60th anniversary of priestly ordination. Read his story here.