ST. CLOUD - After over 22 years as executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud, Steve Bresnahan is planning to retire.

"I do know I'm going to have to stay busy, I'm not someone who can sit and just watch tomatoes grow as I've been putting it. But there's a lot of opportunities and we'll see where it takes me," Bresnahan says.

Bresnahan joined Catholic Charities in June 1994, appointed by Bishop Jerome Hanus, as the first layperson to lead Catholic Charities. He followed Father Tim Wenzel, who was executive director from 1986 to 1994.

According to a media release from Catholic Charities, Bresnahan led the development of Catholic Charities from serving 38,121 people in 1994 to serving 72,165 people in 2015.

"Catholic Charities is grateful for Bresnahan's years of service in helping Central Minnesota's most vulnerable with food, safe places to live and someone to lean on in their times of need," the news release says.

Catholic Charities is now starting the process to select a new executive director in the next six to nine months. Bresnahan says the most rewarding part of the job was seeing the positive impact Catholic Charities had on others lives.

'I think the people who come to us for services, their needs are much more complex and aren't as simple as they used to be: so it's more challenging to serve them. And yet when we can do that and help somebody, it feels really good and people smile."

Bresnahan plans to stay in Central Minnesota. He hopes to spend more time traveling and with music in his free time.

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