Born in New Jersey, Father Vitaliano grew up in Miami, Florida. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1979 to serve his country and see the world, and discovered a deep love for his Catholic faith and a priestly vocation along the way. He studied for the priesthood at Holy Apostles College and Seminary […]
Continue readingMsgr. Swetland is the president of Donnelly College in Kansas City, Kansas, and also serves as professor of Leadership and Christian Ethics there. Prior to that, he was vice president for Catholic Identity and Mission and held the Archbishop Flynn Chair of Christian Ethics at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Born in Pittsburgh, […]
Continue readingA native of Pennsylvania, Father Kretz attended Temple Tech Institute in Philadelphia, where he earned an associate’s degree in computers and electronics. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Temple University. He received a master’s degree in philosophical theology from Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut. Father Kretz’s first assignments were as parochial […]
Continue readingFather Keebler was born in Daytona Beach, Florida. He attended Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, and studied for the priesthood at Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut, where he earned a master’s degree in theology and a master of divinity degree. His first assignment was as parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception in Streator. He went […]
Continue readingMsgr. Halfacre was born in East Chicago, Indiana, and grew up in Hammond. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Indiana University and master’s degrees in divinity and sacred theology, with an emphasis in moral theology, from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He also studied at the John Paul II Institute on […]
Continue readingBorn in Florissant, Missouri, Father Donton attended Bergan High School in Peoria. He earned bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and youth ministry at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, Minnesota, and completed his studies for the priesthood with master’s degrees in divinity and moral theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. His first […]
Continue readingBorn in Chicago, Father Campbell holds a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University Chicago and received a law degree from the Loyola School of Law in 1982. After practicing law in central Illinois for four years as an assistant state’s attorney, he entered Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he earned master’s degrees in […]
Continue readingFather Rogers was born in Kabale, Uganda, in East Africa. He was considered a late vocation when he entered the Apostles of Jesus at 23 to study for the priesthood. His perseverance paid off, however. Of the 56 men who started the novitiate, only 14 went on to the priesthood — including Father Rogers. He […]
Continue readingMsgr. Bliss was born in Florissant, Missouri. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, and studied for the priesthood at Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut, where he earned a master’s degree in Scripture and a master’s of divinity degree. After ordination he served as parochial vicar […]
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Deacon Michael Pica accepts a stack of hand-made cards from Bria Hartke, a first-grader at Holy Cross School in Champaign, at the close of an all-school Mass on May 13. Holy Cross is Deacon Pica's home parish. He will be ordained to the priesthood at St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria on Saturday, May 28. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)
Deacon Michael Pica never thought he would be called to the priesthood. “It’s the other guys in the chapel, they’re called,” the transitional deacon remembers thinking in the fall of 2008 when — as a sophomore at Bradley University in Peoria studying health science — Msgr. Brian Brownsey asked him if he had ever considered […]
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