At the heart of Brown County Catholics, Fr. Amberger and Fr. Cordonnier play pivotal roles in nurturing our faith and fostering a strong community bond. Their dedication and service inspire us all.

Fr. Frank Amberger is excited to be a pastor in southern Brown County, embracing the rural setting of the Archdiocese. In sharing his vocation story, he recalls his childhood dream of becoming a garbage man, later aspiring to be a veterinarian due to his love for animals.

While pursuing a degree in biology at St. Louis University, with plans to specialize in wildlife biology, he experienced a profound spiritual conversion. Despite initial resistance to the idea of priesthood, a transformative moment during his graduate studies at the University of Montana illuminated God’s plan for him.

After completing his year of graduate school, he entered seminary and was ordained in 1996. Fr. Amberger humorously reflects on how God brought his journey full circle—calling him from a childhood dream of being a “physical garbage man” to a “spiritual garbage man,” removing sin through the Sacrament of Penance.

“God has a perfect sense of humor!”

I grew up on a farm with four older siblings in a small town called
“Russia” in Ohio, pronounced “ROO-SHE”, which apparently is the French
pronunciation of the country of the same name. Supposedly the first
settlers of the area both grew a Russian variety of wheat and also thought
that the frozen landscape reminded them of the lands that they had seen
during the Franco-Prussian War.
I have fond memories of working out in the fields on an old John
Deere 4020 tractor. In my upbringing, my Dad always made sure to tell us
kids to give praise to God for all things; the Sun, the rain, the harvest, and
the very land itself. I did not know it at the time, but this idea echoes Psalm
148, which I now pray regularly in my prayers as a priest.
I have eighteen nieces and nephews. Before becoming a priest, I
was a Machinist. It was while I was working in a machine shop that I heard
the call to be a priest.
I have been ordained for ten years and I would say that my favorite
part of being a priest is helping people turn away from the world and back
to God.