Remembering a joy-filled priest

By Dave Luecking | daveluecking@archstl.org | twitter: @legacyCatholic

At mid-morning of "unquestionably the worst day of my life," Oct. 26, Steve Bannes finally found time to process the crushing news that awful day, sitting quietly next to Father Ed Stanger in his father Lorry's dining room in Ballwin.

Steve, his brother Mike, their wives and the Holy Infant Parish pastor had broken the news to his dad that Father Tim Bannes — Lorry's son, their baby brother and Father Stanger's close friend and colleague — had been found dead that morning in the rectory at St. John the Baptist "Gildehaus" Parish in Villa Ridge.

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