“I will give you shepherds after my own heart.
Jeremiah 3:15”
What is the priesthood?
Priesthood is a call to be sacramentally and physically Christ to those around you. Through priests, the mission that Christ entrusted to the apostles and their successors continues in the whole world. While all Christians participate in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, God calls certain men to devote themselves to serving the Church. “The ministerial priesthood is a means by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1547)
What is the diocesan priesthood?
The majority of priests the average American will encounter are diocesan priests - those priests who have been called and ordained to serve those people under the care of a diocesan bishop, usually in “regular” parish life. Typically, diocesan priests wear black “clerical” clothing and do not wear habits or other special clothing, unlike most priests in a religious order.
Through their ministry in parishes all over the world, diocesan priests are present in many of the pivotal moments of a Catholic’s life. When you go to Sunday Mass – there is a priest. When you want to get married or have a child baptized – you go to see a diocesan priest. When a family member is sick or dying – it is the parish priest who answers the call.
Priests in the Diocese of Steubenville give their lives to help Catholics in this part of Ohio come to know and serve God in a deeper way. Each priest has promised obedience to the current bishop and his successors, which means he will serve in whatever capacity and in whatever location the bishop chooses to send him. They are “arrows” in the quiver of their bishop, to be shot into the community and win souls for Christ, administer the sacraments to those already Catholics and proclaim the Kingdom of Christ.
“Dear Mother,
Cover with your maternal mantle those whom Jesus has honored with the authority and dignity of His Priesthood.”
These men are currently preparing and studying to be priests for our Diocese right now
Peter Stetson
Home parish: Triumph of the Cross in Steubenville
Studying at: Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit
“I enjoy doing mechanic work on my car, performing magic and hiking.”
“I want to be a priest because I think this is what God wants; so many things in my life have pointed to it and the years in seminary have confirmed my call to the priesthood.”
Favorite Scripture: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Ephesians 1:3-10)
Favorite saint quote: “Be not afraid." ~ Pope St. John Paul II
Birthday: October 21
John paul gan
Home parish: Holy Family in Steubenville
Studying at: Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus
“I love praising the Lord by writing hymns and playing them on guitar or ukulele. I relax by taking hikes or folding origami!”
"I want to be a priest so that I can unite my heart to the suffering, sacrificial, and priestly Heart of Christ and so I can share the peace that comes from trusting him with everyone I meet."
Favorite Scripture: "Truly I have set my soul in silence and peace. As a child has rest in its mother’s arms, even so my soul." (Psalm 131:1-2)
Favorite saint quote: "There is nothing more man needs than Divine Mercy – that love which is benevolent, which is compassionate, which raises man above his weakness to the infinite heights to the holiness of God." ~ Pope St. John Paul II
Birthday: December 2
