Father Kevin Kester Celebrates 25 Years as a Catholic Priest

Father Kevin Kester, associate pastor at St. Bede the Venerable Catholic Church in La Cañada Flintridge, celebrated his 25th year as a priest last Sunday with a special celebratory Mass along with the pastor, Reverend Monsignor James Gehl, and other priests.

More than 800 friends, former parishioners and St. Bede parishioners joined in the celebration of the Mass and later participated in a special luncheon held in the parish hall.

Father Kester joined the staff at St. Bede three years ago and immediately became a hit with the parishioners with his lively homilies and his passion for books and reading, especially books that relate to the Harry Potter series.

But his real passion is the Mass and Liturgy.

“What I like most about being a priest is the Liturgy; celebrating Mass and preaching. I’m very involved in RCIA, which is the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, which is helping adult converts on their faith journey toward the Lord in the context of Catholic worship.”

A short time after joining the staff, Father Kester started a women’s book club mainly because parishioners had many questions about the controversial book, “The Da Vinci Code”.

“They wanted to have a discussion on the book ‘The Da Vinci Code’, and it so happened that I had read it. We have met more or less monthly ever since”.

This past month, two weeks before the movie “The Da Vinci Code” was released, the group read the book “OPUS DEI”, by John Allen. The priest said he noted that Opus Dei is an evil presence in both the book and the movie.

Before coming to St. Bede’s, Father Kester served at St. Cyprian in Long Beach, St. Paul of the Cross in La Mirada, Our Lady of the Assumption in Claremont and St. Linus in Norwalk.

The celebratory Mass ended on a light note with altar servers, cantors, lectors and the Kester family, along with the three priests who celebrated the Mass, including Monsignor Gehl, donning Harry Potter glasses.

In closing the Mass, Monsignor Gehl rose to laude Father Kester, by making particular note of the joy and love the jovial priest has brought to the parish community with his sense of humor.

Father Kester smiled as he received a long standing ovation followed by a blessing given to him by all members of the congregation, who with arms held out to him, were led in the blessing by Monsignor Gehl.Photo by Al RestivoMARKING HIS ANNIVERSARY ? Father Kevin Kester, a priest at St. Bede the Venable Catholic Church, celebrated his 25th year as a member of the clergy with a special celebratory Mass last Sunday. Assisting him is Deacon Dr. Rick Pomprey.lch-kester.0615.jpg-BPhotoInfoNG1RVVLS20060615j0tjexncNo Caption