Angelus News | June 3, 2022 | Vol. 7 No. 11

attracted to “the peaceful lifestyle and
spirit’ of the religious who lived there.
While competing for the Swiss race
walking team, he met Lauren Feder,
a primary-care doctor and founder of
the Center for Natural Family Medicine
in Los Angeles. They became
friends and then sweethearts, were
married in 1991, and raised two sons,
now adults.
Haarpaintner also graduated from
UCLA with a degree in art history,
and in 2002 became a chiropractor,
joining his wife in her practice
and becoming active at St. Brendan
Church. Then in 2014, she was
diagnosed with cancer and died that
November.
Before that, however, Lauren —
aware of her husband’s deep faith and
desire to serve God — asked him,
“Are you going to become a priest?”
“I said, ‘No, I’ll take care of the boys
and keep the medical office going,” he
said. “But after Lauren died, I lost my
heart for working in the office.” He
sold the practice and took a year off to
care for his younger son, who attended
Loyola High School. “But I also
asked myself, ‘What should I do?’ And
the priesthood kept calling.”
He spoke with his pastor, Msgr. Terrance
Fleming, and with Father Steve
Davoren, then heading the Office of
Vocations.
“I wondered if I was too old for
priesthood. They said, just look into
it and see what happens. I entered St
John’s, and by the grace of God, it’s all
happened very smoothly.”
His internship year at St. Mary’s
Church in Palmdale, Haarpaintner
said, “was very eye-opening, especially
during COVID-19 and the challenges
it presented. I was able to assist in
counseling couples whose faith was
suffering, and to help them rediscover
Christ and bring real light into lives.
I thought, this is what God wants me
to do because, ultimately, Christ has
to be in the midst of the domestic
church.”
And as a dairy farmer, the image of
guiding a flock resonates with this
former chiropractor. “I have cared for
the body; now I care for the soul.”
Mike Nelson is the former editor of
The Tidings (predecessor of Angelus).
30 • ANGELUS • June 3, 2022