Kent Wanner

St. Paul's Newman Center
Fargo, ND
Wife: Lisa

Kent Wanner is the 7th of 9 children of Jim and Jean+ Wanner and grew up on the family farm and ranch in Hebron, ND.  He was privileged to grow up in a very supportive and hard-working Catholic family, with many great witnesses among family and friends, including younger double-cousin and now Servant of God Michelle Duppong. The family was very active in parish, community, and pro-life causes. 

He attended NDSU, and along with his high school sweetheart and future wife, Lisa Feist, became very involved at St. Paul's Newman Center. Upon graduation with a degree in Electrical Engineering, he started working as a design engineer for Phoenix International (later part of John Deere). He and Lisa were married in 1997. They are the very proud parents of 7 children, ages 26-12, plus 3 more already with the Lord. You might recognize one of their sons; seminarian, Anthony Wanner. They also have a granddaughter plus 3 more with the Lord.

In college Kent worked through discerning his vocation and was very torn between the priesthood and marriage/family life. In hindsight, it is clear that in this struggle God was planting many seeds in forming Kent's adult life, allowing him and his wife to be able to peacefully and confidently say "yes" to start the diaconate formation process. Right after marriage, Kent and Lisa attended the Diocesan EPS classes, which were the educational portion of the diaconate program at that time. Their marriage and family experience has had a large influence in their work preparing couples for marriage, serving on various parish boards, volunteering at area Catholic schools, leading religious education for all ages, music ministry, lectoring, EMHC, and leadership in the parish Knights of Columbus council. We believe that God has something very special in mind for my/our spiritual growth through this formation process and the impact that can, with his help, have on our Church.