Good Shepherd, St. Therese, and St. Joseph among parishes getting new pastors
By Bill Brewer
Bishop Richard F. Stika has announced new assignments for several priests serving in the Diocese of Knoxville, including three who were ordained to the priesthood in early June.
Bishop Stika announced the assignments publicly on May 7 soon after the priests informed their current parishioners.
“It’s always a difficult thing to uproot people and move them to different parts of the diocese. I consult with our vicar for priests, Father Michael Cummins, our vicars general, Father David Boettner and Father Doug Owens, and our chancellor, Deacon Sean Smith. We consider the needs of the parishes and the needs of the diocese. We have four parishes that don’t have a pastor, and we will have three newly ordained priests in June. We will also ordain three new transitional deacons in June, which will help give us four new priests in 2024,” Bishop Stika said.
“All of this means we need to address the movement of clergy and how it can benefit our parishes. I also consider language needs in parishes, which is always a big hallenge for us. I admit that assignments are difficult and that parishioners can grow attached to a particular priest. That’s a wonderful thing, but the gifts those priests bring to a parish might be needed elsewhere,” Bishop Stika added.
Father Antonio Giraldo has been appointed pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Townsend. The appointment was effective May 6.
Father Giraldo, who has served as parochial administrator of St. Francis since July 2017, began serving in the Diocese of Knoxville in 2002 after relocating from his native Colombia. He has served as an associate pastor of All Saints Parish in Knoxville, St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Cleveland, and St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Lenoir City.
He celebrated his 25th year as a priest on Nov. 20, 2022.
Father Dominic Nguyen, CRM, has been named pastor of the Church of Divine Mercy in Knoxville, effective April 21.
Father Nguyen, who is a member of the order of Clerics Regular Minor, has served as parochial administrator of Divine Mercy since June 2019. He was ordained to the priesthood in June 2009.
Bishop Stika installed Father Nguyen as pastor on June 11.
Father Ray Powell, who has served as pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle since July 2018, was named pastor of St. Mary Parish in Oak Ridge. He succeeds Father Brent Shelton, who has served as pastor at St. Mary since July 2015 and has taken a leave of absence.
As pastor of St. Mary, Father Powell also will lead St. Mary School, one of the diocese’s 10 schools.
Prior to serving in Lenoir City, Father Powell served as pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in LaFollette, Christ the King Parish in Tazewell, and St. Jude Parish in Helenwood. He also has served as associate pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Chattanooga.
Father Powell, who was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Stika in June 2015, is to serve in Oak Ridge for at least six years. His term begins on June 17.
Father Pontian Kiyimba, AJ, who has served as associate pastor at St. Mary-Oak Ridge since Oct. 15, 2018, has been named parochial administrator of both St. Mary Parish in Gatlinburg and Church of the Good Shepherd in Newport. His six-year term begins July 1.
He has previously served as associate pastor at All Saints Parish in Knoxville.
In Newport, Father Kiyimba succeeds Monsignor Bob Hofstetter, who died in July 2022. In Gatlinburg, Father Kiyimba succeeds Father Antony Punnackal, CMI, who is on a leave of absence.
Father Kiyimba, who is a member of the Apostles of Jesus religious order and celebrates Mass in Swahili for members of the African Catholic community in East Tennessee as well as serving in the diocesan Hispanic Jail Ministry, became a U.S. citizen in 2022. He has been in active ministry in the Diocese of Knoxville since Nov. 1, 2012. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2005 in his native Uganda.
Father Julian Cardona, who has served as associate pastor at St. Thomas the Apostle since July 2015, has been named parochial administrator of the Lenoir City parish.
Father Cardona was ordained by Bishop Stika in May 2014, and also has served as associate pastor at St. Mary Parish in Johnson City. His six-year term at St. Thomas begins on June 17.
Father Adam Royal, who has served as associate pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Alcoa since December 2019, has been named parochial vicar of St. Thomas the Apostle. His assignment begins on July 1.
Father Royal was ordained by Bishop Stika in June 2016 and has served as an associate pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Chattanooga. He also is serving as chaplain for the new Catholic Medical Association.
Father Dennis Kress is the new pastor of St. Therese Parish in Clinton and St. Joseph Parish in Norris. He begins the six-year assignment on July 1.
Father Kress has served as pastor of St. Elizabeth Parish in Elizabethton since July 1, 2003, and as parochial administrator of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Mountain City since June 2004. He was ordained by Bishop Anthony J. O’Connell in June 1999 and has served as an associate pastor at St. Dominic Parish in Kingsport.
Succeeding Father Kress in upper East Tennessee will be Father Jesús Guerrero, who has been serving as parochial vicar of St. Mary Parish in Johnson City since July 2015.
Father Guerrero’s assignment as parochial administrator of St. Elizabeth and St. Anthony of Padua begins on July 1.
Following his ordination to the priesthood by Bishop Stika in June 2015, Father Guerrero was assigned to St. Mary in Johnson City. Father Guerrero is originally from Mexico and has been in the Diocese of Knoxville since 2011. In 2009, he served as a missionary in Russia.
Father Moisés Moreno has been named parochial vicar at St. Mary in Johnson City. Father Moreno has served as associate pastor of St. Mary Parish in Gatlinburg and Holy Cross Parish in Pigeon Forge since Aug. 1, 2021, and also has led the Hispanic ministry in the Sevier County parishes.
Father Moreno, who was ordained to the priesthood in November 2010 by Bishop Stika, also has served as an associate pastor at St. Jude Parish in Chattanooga and as parochial vicar and chaplain of the Hispanic community at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga. His term begins on July 1.
Father Emmanuel Massawe, AJ, who has served as parochial vicar at St. Dominic Parish in Kingsport since October 2017, has been named parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish in Gatlinburg and Church of the Good Shepherd in Newport and will assist Father Kiyimba.
Father Massawe, whose term begins on Aug. 7, is a member of the Apostles of Jesus religious order.
Father Tom Charters, GHM, who has served as pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Erwin since its founding in October 2011, has been named parochial vicar of the Unicoi County parish effective July 1.
Father Charters will be taking a three-month sabbatical in the Diocese of Colorado Springs beginning Sept. 10, returning to St. Michael the Archangel in December.
As a priest with the Glenmary Home Missioners, Father Charters has pastored parishes in five states and has served as a Glenmary priest for 50 years.
Father Kenneth Wandera, GHM, who has assisted Father Charters as associate pastor of St. Michael the Archangel since April 2021, has been named parochial administrator of the parish. His six-year assignment begins on July 1.
Father Wandera was ordained a Glenmary Home Missioners priest in March 2021. He began his ministry in East Tennessee in 2019 as a missionary from Kenya.
Bishop Stika also has appointed three newly ordained priests—Fathers Andrew Crabtree, Neil Blatchford, and Joseph Austin—to their first assignments.
Bishop Stika ordained the men to the priesthood on June 10 at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Father Crabtree will assist at the cathedral July 1-Aug. 6, and then he will serve as parochial vicar at St. Dominic Parish, effective Aug. 7.
Father Blatchford has been appointed parochial vicar of St. Mary Church in Oak Ridge, effective July 1.
And Father Austin has been appointed parochial vicar of Our Lady of Fatima, effective July 1.
In addition, Bishop Stika has announced that transitional deacons Bo Beaty, Daniel Herman, Michael Willey, and Renzo Alvarado Suarez have been given summer assignments as they prepare for their final year of seminary and then ordination to the priesthood in 2024.
Deacons Beaty, Herman, and Willey were ordained to the transitional diaconate by Bishop Stika at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 3. Bishop Stika ordained Deacon Suarez to the transitional diaconate on Jan. 22 in Mexico City.
Deacon Willey will serve at St. Patrick Church in Morristown June 4-Aug. 13. Deacon Herman will serve at St. Alphonsus Church in Crossville June 4-Aug. 13. Deacon Suarez will serve at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga, effective May 30. And Deacon Beaty will serve at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus June 4-Aug. 13.
Bishop Stika also announced that Father Mark Schuster, pastor of St. Alphonsus, has been named dean of the Diocese of Knoxville’s Cumberland Mountain Deanery, effective June 5.
Father Martin Gladysz, associate pastor of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; Father Michael Nolan, pastor of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Cleveland; Father Ray Powell, new pastor of St. Mary Parish in Oak Ridge; and Father Schuster have been named to the diocese’s College of Consultors. Father Michael Cummins, pastor of St. Dominic Parish in Kingsport, has been reappointed to the College of Consultors. They join existing consultors Father David Boettner, rector of the cathedral, Father Doug Owens, pastor of All Saints Parish in Knoxville, Father Manuel Pérez, pastor of St. Stephen Parish in Chattanooga, and Father Shelton.
Father Arthur Torres Barona, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Chattanooga also has been named director of vocations for the diocese. Father Christopher Floersh, who has served in this role, will serve as a full-time associate pastor at St. John Neumann Parish in Farragut..
Father Jhon Mario Garcia, CM, will succeed Father Torres as spiritual director of the Hispanic Marriage Retreat, Unidos Con Cristo.
