Robert Haarman, MA

Robert Haarman is the Director of the Office of Indian Ministry for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He is the Pastoral Administrator of the Church of Gichitwaa Kateri, the Native American Catholic Church in south Minneapolis. A graduate of the St. Catherine course for contemplative discipleship, he has studied church management through Villanova University. While running a small, enculturated mission parish in the heart of the city, with the second largest American Indian population, he sits with community on a subcommittee for opioid and unsheltered response of the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors (MUID). Learning firsthand and contributing to research, reporting and policy recommendations to decision makers at the state, metropolitan council, county, and city. As pastoral administrator he assists community members at the time of death, preparing for wakes and funerals. With a robust parish council, he directs enculturated liturgies, sacramental preparation and study, adoration and prayer groups, and supervises program administration for culturally specific intergenerational classes and engagement. Fostering deeper reflection for enculturation of liturgy and synodality with the contemporary church, Robert works with various conferences, dioceses, parishes, and working groups to illume the philology of place, often providing questions to explore one’s connection to the spaces inhabited, both temporal and divine.