Trent Opstedahl
One foot in India, another in Walsh County
A Lankin, N.D. priest ministers to three parishes while overseeing a rural school in his homeland of India
LUKE FRANKE | GRAND FORKS HERALD
Reverend Prasad Marneni has been preaching at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Lankin, ND for a little over a year now. Loved by his congregation Marneni, originally from India, has been all over the world preaching the gospel including countries such as Australia, France and Malaysia.
“(The congregations) didn’t know me asa person, but they knew me asa priest,” Prasad said. “(A priest) is a universal thing.”
Judy Bosh is among the 55 other families who attend the tri-parish regularly and said havinga priest from a different country was not abig change for the church, as the church’s last priest was from Nigeria.
“I was very excited (about him being assigned),” she said. “I love learning new cultures.”
Sharing his traditions and customs with his congregation has been one of Prasad’s joys during his contracted five-year period.
“People have been fascinated by the dressing and other cultural aspects of my culture, like the architecture,” he said. Culture shock
Coming to the U.S. has also been a culture shock to Prasad, he said.
“From a land with no snow to a land with so much snow and cold has been quite a shock,” he said. “There was a huge cultural change in the way people treated each other here. They respect the personal space of others and are very sensitive to other people’s needs. India is a highly-competitive country and here you help each other out.”
The relaxed, slower pace of rural Midwestern life was a concern to Prasad at first, but he said he knew he had to take the leap of faith.
Members of the church said they are very pleased to have Prasad serving their parish and that each of the 14 priests they’ve had since opening in 1906 has brought something special to the church.
“He doesn’t forget a name — he knows all the children and all the people here,” Diane McGlaughlin said.
With three more years to serve at the tri-parish, Prasad said the one thing he is trying to pass on during his time in Walsh County is the global connections found all across the world today.
“I’ve tried to show the universal piece of this church,” he said. “It all comes together.”
Trent Opstedahl | Grand Forks Herald
Friday, August 1, 2014 | Page B1
L ANKIN, N.D. — When Reverend Prasad Marneni sought to help a few rural children in India attend school, he didn’t realize it would result in a facility that would serve hundreds of students who would otherwise not get an education.
Marneni has served as a priest for the Walsh County tri-parish in Lankin, Pisek and Bechyne for abouta year, but when he isn’t fulfilling his pastoral duties he works to oversee the global work he got involved in more than a decade ago in India, his home country.
“I saw the need to educate rural children,” he said. “(The school) just sprang out of my rural mission work.”
Founded in 2004, St. Raymond’s School is a boarding school that operates from June to April and serves more than 600 students from kindergarten to 10th grade.
Marneni has also traveled to Australia on multiple occasions to invest his time developing rural education practices.
“It is a project for the rural children that come from remote farm families,” he said.
In 2012, Prasad was assigned by the church to serve in the U.S. for five years. His first year was spent at St. Joseph’s Parish in Devils Lake and in 2013 he was appointed to the tri-parishes of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Lankin, St. John Nepomucene Catholic Church in Pisek and Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Bechyne.