I was born on May 20th, 1983, so yes, I just turned 40. My parents, Larry and Elvira Kau are both living and I have one sibling, an older brother, who farms corn, soybeans, and custom alfalfa in eastern Jefferson County.
I attended school in Fort Atkinson from grade school on through high school and I graduated in 2001. I was in FFA, Track, Cross Country, and plenty of other clubs(yes, believe it or not, I used to be a runner). When my brother went off to UW River Falls, I took over milking cows at a nearby farm for my junior and senior year. There’s nothing like a 4am job to keep one out of trouble. I’ll always value the work ethic that working on a farm instilled.
When I went to UW Madison (I was inclined to go to a smaller school but mom insisted), I majored in Bacteriology, as I had a knack for science and an appreciation for microbiology. One of the biggest surprises was experiencing the Catholic community at St. Paul’s Newman Center. I had consistently gone to Mass throughout my childhood, so it was natural to attend when I went to college, but coming from a rural parish, having lots of peers who took their faith seriously, especially on a secular campus like UW, was radically different. I got very involved and by God’s providence, even when I joined a fraternity in my freshman year, I was paired with a brother who was hosting a bible study in the house. He ended up leaving but entrusted me to continue the study, which I found very intimidating.
The real turning point came when just a semester before graduation I attended a Vocations Retreat put on by the Diocese of Madison. To hear the vocation stories of other priests that could have had families or pursued careers but heard another call was powerful. I had never really considered that God had a call that was different than what I assumed I wanted.
In Spring of 2006 I applied to seminary and was accepted, which is a truly humbling experience, and sent to St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver, CO. It’s a seven year process and challenging at times, but by God’s grace I persevered. During my seminary years I had various summer assignments at St. Aloysius in Sauk City, St. John the Baptist in Jefferson, St. Mary in Pine Bluff, St. Joe’s Baraboo, St. Bridget in Ridgeway, Corpus Christi in Boscobel, St. Victor’s in Monroe and was ordained a deacon on May 25th, 2012 and a priest almost exactly a year later on May 24th, 2013 after graduating Magna Cum Laude from St. John Vianney.
My first assignment was as a parochial vicar at St. Joe’s Baraboo along with being Chaplain for Camp Gray. After two short years I was assigned for my first time as pastor of Corpus Christi comprising of Muscoda, Boscobel, Avoca, and Clyde. Two years later I was called to serve at St. Jerome’s in Columbus and St. Patrick’s in Doylestown. It was my first assignment as pastor of a Catholic school. Having attended public school exclusively growing up, it was a unique joy to serve as a spiritual father for students. After four years there, the call came again to serve at two parishes, each with a school; St. John’s in Spring Green and St. Luke’s in Plain. Finally, this past winter I once more got the call to serve, this time as a parochial vicar in the newly constituted Pastorate 7. I look forward to serving as one of your priests.
In my spare time I keep plenty busy. For the last 6 years I’ve collected maple sap to boil into syrup. I enjoy volleyball, camping/glamping and the outdoors and try to get out for gun deer season. Sporting clays are probably my favorite shooting sport(or at least what I’m decent at). In 2020, with lots of time to convalesce, I looked into getting a super affordable, super fun car that I could work on myself. So I ended up getting a red ’01 Miata. I’ve always enjoyed driving cars with a manual gearbox. I’ve also owned a ’85 Chevy C10, ’94 Honda DelSol, and my current favorite, a 2004 Honda S2000 in Grand Prix White. I may not be as agile anymore but my cars can be. I look forward to meeting all of you and praying with you for years to come.