Father Kyle George Fisher, C.Ss.R., 84, of Liguori died March 28, 2022, at St. Clement Redemptorist Mission Community in Liguori. Father Fisher was a natural leader who championed the poor and minorities he served for more than five decades. He was born Dec. 4, 1937, in Wichita, Kan., the fifth of 10 children, and followed his older brothers to St. Joseph Preparatory College in Kirkwood. He professed temporary vows on Aug. 2, 1958, and perpetual vows on Sept. 2, 1961, and was ordained to the priesthood on July 3, 1963.
Father Kyle served as assistant novice master at Mount St. Clement’s College in De Soto, then was assigned as a parish priest at St. Alphonsus “Rock” Church in St. Louis, where he was elected local vicar of the community. He earned a master’s degree in urban affairs at St. Louis University and was appointed local superior and pastor in 1972 at age 34. His leadership skills him handle racial tensions in the community, and in 1978 he was assigned to Holy Redeemer Parish, a large multicultural inner-city parish in Detroit. He went to Mexico to learn Spanish in order to better serve the Hispanic community. In 1990, he was appointed pastor of Our Lady of Peace Parish in Greeley, Colo., and was elected local superior of the community two years later, serving until 1999. That year, he was appointed local superior and pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Denver. Where he led a major renovation of the historical church.
In 2005, at age 68, he was assigned to St. Alphonsus “Rock” Church to serve Hispanics in St. Louis, Warrenton and Cahokia, Ill. He was appointed local superior of the community in August 2007 and oversaw the renovation of the historic church following a lightning strike and devastating fire.
Although he officially retired in 2008, Father Kyle remained in residence and focused on producing an in-depth history of the church as well as planning its 150th jubilee. He moved to St. Clement in 2018 but maintained his independent spirit and wry sense of humor.
A memorial Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 4, at the St. Clement Chapel in Liguori and livestreamed at https://www.facebook.com/gan.nguyen.
Arrangements are under the direction of Vinyard Funeral Home in Festus.