Father McLaughlin retires after serving both rural, urban parishes

May 24, 2022

Father Mike McLaughlin’s pastoral care has been experienced in rural parishes, city parishes and in hospitals throughout the Des Moines metro area.

He attended Martensdale-St Mary’s Community High School, Iowa State University, Loras College and St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee before being ordained by Bishop Maurice Dingman in 1982.

Father McLaughlin, who is originally from St. Patrick Parish at Irish Settlement, was a seminarian and present when St. John Paul II visited this rural church community in 1979. 

After ordination, he served at St. Anthony Parish in Des Moines for three years, then joined team ministry in the Leon region, where he served from 1985-1988. He served St. Mary Parish in Portsmouth for five years, then served St. Mary Parish in Shenandoah and St. Mary Parish in Hamburg for three years.  

Father McLaughlin served Holy Trinity Parish in Des Moines, and Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart Parish in Ankeny, St. Mary Parish in Guthrie Center, St. Cecilia Parish in Panora, and served as the chaplain at the St. Thomas More Center in Panora. 
He also served St. John Parish in Greenfield, and St. Patrick Parish in Massena.

In 2011, he began 10 years of service to the non-Catholic hospitals within the Des Moines metropolitan area, a ministry from which he’s retiring.