Meet Andre Klaes - NEW Development Director at St. Luke!

We are excited to welcome a new member to our staff at St. Luke's!

Andre Klaes will begin working here on Tuesday, August 5th as our Development Director. This is a staff role we have regularly had in the past, that has been vacant for many months, as we have gone through an extensive hiring process trying to find the right fit. We are grateful for the generosity of an anonymous donor to help launch this new hire, and the Development Director will be salaried from the funds raised, so the position is not a financial loss to the parish.

Andre's job as Development Director is primarily to raise funds to support our Campus Ministry programming, from external donors. This means that Andre will not be making direct asks to parishioners, but rather people outside of St. Luke's. Parishioners are encouraged to continue faithfully giving to the parish offertory, and may additionally offer direct financial support to Campus Ministry. The hope is that people outside the parish will be glad to invest in our mission to evangelize college students at GVSU, to get us to a place where Campus Ministry programming can be fully funded by donor support, and not need to pull from the parish offertory.

More about Andre

Andre grew up in West Michigan with his parents and four siblings. After high school, Andre attended Saint John Vianney College Seminary earning his degree in Philosophy and Catholic Studies. During his time in college seminary, Andre fell in love with Eucharistic adoration and the Lord’s invitation to pray as He does: in the silence of the wilderness. After leaving seminary, this passion led Andre to serve three years as a missionary for high school and college students at COR Expeditions, a Catholic wilderness ministry in the Mountain West.

Returning to West Michigan, Andre hopes to use this passion for relational ministry and young adult formation as a foundation and key motivator in his role as Director of Development. In his spare time Andre loves backpacking, rock climbing, canyoneering, skiing, and visiting the National Parks with his younger brother.