Albany native Neal Anderson a witness to change in Vatican City

ALBANY — There was a time when Neal Anderson had to be dragged to Mass on Sunday mornings.

“He was like any other kid, he didn’t want to go to church,” said Steve Anderson, Neal’s dad. “As he got older, and we found out later, he would take a group of teammates to the church before Friday football games. There would be 30-40 players in the church and he would lead them in prayer. We never even heard or knew about it until years later.”

Neal was a standout at Albany High School in football, basketball and baseball. His strong faith continued to evolve when he went to St. John’s University and played basketball from 2016 to 2019. He attended Bible study with other athletes on campus, including players from the Johnnies’ football team.

“Out of all of our kids, Neal was always the most outgoing,” mom Lisa Anderson said. “He was Albany’s homecoming king. He was on the TV broadcast they put together at the high school. We’re not super religious, so his commitment to his faith did surprise us. But then you realize it ties in with who he is as a person.

“Being in sports was a way to spread his faith and share it with other young people. That’s how he found his faith at St. John’s, through Bible study. It deepened through that.”

What they couldn’t imagine was that, only a few years later, Neal would be studying to become a priest in Vatican City. Within the past year, he met and shook hands with Pope Francis, and was in the streets of Vatican City when Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, was chosen on May 8 by a papal conclave as the new leader of the Catholic Church.

Steve Anderson was always a big baseball fan. His memorabilia collection would make any lifelong fan of the game a little jealous.

“Growing up in Minnesota, my parents were huge Twins fans. I remember writing letters to my favorite players and collecting baseball cards,” Steve said. “It just kept growing from there. For the kid in me, it’s kind of hard to believe how big it’s gotten.”

Baseball played a key part in starting Steve’s family.

He met Lisa during an amateur game in Elrosa almost 35 years ago. Lisa was a general reporter for the Sauk Centre Herald at the time and was in Elrosa to cover a game.

“I was in the high school band at Albany growing up,” Lisa recalled. “I was a band geek. I didn’t go out for any sports. And then my boss asked me if I wanted to cover sports. I asked a lot of questions and everyone was really generous with me about that. I started covering baseball, basketball and football. Steve was playing for the Melrose Black Sox that night and that’s how we met.”

Steve grew up attending a Lutheran church. Lisa’s family was Catholic. When they got married, Steve converted and took classes through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults to enter the faith.

“Right before we got married we talked about that and we wanted to go to the same church,” Lisa said. “I remember writing a story about it in the Sauk Centre paper.”

Steve, 64, has owned and operated

The Apothecary

in St. Cloud and Sartell since 1994. The pharmacy has been renamed a few times and moved from north St. Cloud to Sartell in 2011. Steve’s dad started The Apothecary with him and the two got to know a few famous Minnesota Twins thanks to Harmon Killebrew’s annual charity golf tournament in Arizona.

“We ended up going to that one year and had a great time,” Steve said. “We did that about a half dozen times. Everybody in the major leagues you could think of was there. Harmon was probably the most respected guy out of all of them.

“Harmon started to ask us back every year. And if Harmon Killebrew asks you to go somewhere, you go.”

Through the golf tournament, the Andersons got to meet and spend time with baseball Hall of Famers such as Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, Robin Yount, Kirby Puckett, Tony Oliva and Brooks Robinson. Even though Steve started to collect baseball memorabilia as a kid in the late 1960s, his collection really came together after meeting those famed players.

“Brooks Robinson was getting older and he needed some help with the aches and pains. I bartered with him to get some balls and photos signed. I asked him if that was an even deal and he said ‘that’s good for me.’ I did that with Harmon and a few other guys too,” Steve said with a laugh. “Sometimes they just needed a balm or lotion made, and that was it. Harmon was always my favorite player.”

The Andersons have been married for 32 years, and have four children: Sons Nolan and Neal and daughters Lauren and Sophia.

Neal, their third-oldest child, graduated from St. John’s in 2020. He became a FOCUS missionary at the University of Minnesota-Duluth alongside the

Rev. Mike Schmitz, who serves as the chaplain for UMD’s Newman Center and

hosts several faith-based podcasts.

Neal entered the St. Cloud Diocese in 2022 as a seminarian. He spent the next two-plus years at the St. Paul Seminary on the campus of the University of St. Thomas. In those years, it’s stated that a seminarian on the path to priesthood will “have an intentional time of discernment, prayer, community and growth before they enter seminary studies.”

Lisa said what came next was a surprise to Neal and their family.

St. Cloud Bishop Patrick Neary

selected Neal to become the first seminarian from St. Cloud to attend the Pontifical North American College in Vatican City in almost a decade.

“It’s like going to college for four years,” Lisa said. When he graduates, he will be a priest and come home, where he will be assigned a parish to serve.

“Neal was hesitant about leaving and going over there at first,” Lisa said. “He liked being in St. Paul. He could come back and play amateur baseball for New Munich on the weekend and he got to play basketball quite often.

“When he got over there last summer, he discovered the seminarians had a basketball league where they play each other. I know that was a big relief for him because sports are so important to him.”

Neal, who was unavailable to comment for this story, just finished up his first year at the school. There, he has learned valuable lessons from both popes.

“He told us he met Pope Francis several times,” Lisa said. “Pope Francis encouraged all of them to play sports and instruments. That’s really created a strong camaraderie with the other seminarians. Neal said, ‘Mom, Pope Francis is the real deal.’ They really loved him. I was so happy he was able to meet him. I know he’s heard the same things about Pope Leo.”

Steve and Lisa usually speak with Neal by phone once a week. With a seven-hour time difference between Albany and Vatican City, they make sure to speak with each other around 1 p.m. every Sunday.

It’s become well-known how big of a baseball fan Pope Leo XIV is. He grew up on Chicago’s south side and has been a lifelong White Sox fan. He’s even sported a White Sox baseball cap a few times since being named Pope.

The Andersons’ youngest, daughter Sophia, is heading to Vatican City this summer to visit her older brother.

That got Steve thinking. He was able to find an old White Sox jersey of outfielder Brian Anderson, who played for the team from 2005 to 2009, in his memorabilia. He bought the jersey because of the last name on it. And, he found an old White Sox jacket that is still in pristine condition.

Steve is holding out hope Sophia can give the White Sox items to Neal so Pope Leo could autograph them once they meet.

“I’ve always loved the White Sox logo, even though I grew up a big Twins fan,” Steve said. “There’s a reason when I started the amateur team in Melrose that I called them the Black Sox and we used that logo. I figured he will have some opportunities to meet (Pope Leo). It would be a pretty big surprise to break that out of the collection one day.”

Neal expects to officially meet Pope Leo this fall when his second year of college begins.

“He’s been around (Pope Leo), but hasn’t shaken his hand yet. They’ve been in the same room, I guess. All the seminarians will eventually be introduced to him,” Lisa said. “Neal is working at a parish in Northern Italy this summer and goes back to school this fall. He’s looking forward to meeting him and talking to him one-on-one. That’s where Neal might be able to get the jersey and jacket signed. He told us he’s already been joking about this with the other seminarians. Now they’re all calling their parents to see if they have any White Sox stuff.

“One (seminarian) told him that his dad was going to mail him a White Sox cap to get signed.”

Steve and Lisa are looking forward to the future when Neal is back in central Minnesota. They visited him in Vatican City in March and plan to go back again.

Steve still has a hard time believing this is all real.

“High school Neal — I never imagined this for him in a million years,” Steve said with a laugh. “But once he got to college, he started taking theology classes and that shift in his faith happened. For a while, he didn’t know what his path would be. But to me, it was pretty evident. It wasn’t a big surprise after a while. He always wanted to help people and be of service to others.

“All I know is that we couldn’t be more proud of him.”