By Bill Brewer
Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre has announced the reassignments of two priests in the Diocese of Knoxville.
Father Michael Hendershott, currently the associate pastor of Holy Ghost Parish in Knoxville, will become the parochial vicar of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga.
Father Hendershott also will assume sacramental responsibilities for the Catholic Student Center at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.
Father Valentin Iurochkin, who currently serves as associate pastor at the basilica, will become parochial vicar of Holy Ghost.
The reassignments were effective Feb. 12.
Father Hendershott
At Holy Ghost, Father Hendershott also celebrated Mass in Spanish and Latin for those active communities in the parish located in North Knoxville near downtown.
At the basilica, Father Iurochkin has celebrated Mass in Spanish and Latin for the basilica members active in those communities.
Archbishop Fabre said each assignment is effective until June 30 but can be extended if judged beneficial.
Father Hendershott was ordained a priest on the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, June 27, 2015, by Bishop Richard F. Stika.
He has served at Holy Ghost for more than seven years and served at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus following his ordination before being assigned to Holy Ghost in 2016.
Father Hendershott was born in Johnson City and grew up in Farragut with his five sisters and two brothers. St. John Neumann was his home parish.
In fall 2007, he entered the seminary for the Diocese of Knoxville. Then-Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz sent him to study philosophy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. After four years of college seminary, he earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy.
Bishop Stika sent him to Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis for one year of theology and then to the Pontifical North American College in Rome for four more years of theology school.
In June 2014, he completed a bachelor of sacred theology degree, and then in June 2016 he completed a Licentiate of Sacred Theology with a specialization in Dogmatic Theology at The Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (The Angelicum).
Father Iurochkin
Father Iurochkin was ordained on March 25, 2019, at the Cathedral of St. Sebastian in the Philippine Archdiocese of Lipa and began his priestly ministry in the former Soviet Union republic of Tajikistan. He was a member of the Institute of the Incarnate Word community. He was incardinated into the Diocese of Knoxville on Dec. 12, 2022.
A native of Khabarovsk, Russia, Father Iurochkin was not raised Catholic. When he was 5 years old, his parents and sister immigrated to the United States, and the young Valentin was left in Russia to be raised by his grandparents, waiting for a chance to join his family in America. A Maryknoll priest taught him about the Catholic faith, and a few months later he was baptized and confirmed at Easter Vigil. He said as he was being baptized, he felt a calling to the priesthood.
Soon afterward, he met Father Jesús Guerrero, who is now the parochial administrator of St. Elizabeth Parish in Elizabethton and St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Mountain City, who was studying the Russian language in Father Iurochkin’s hometown.
Father Iurochkin entered the Institute of the Incarnate Word community when he was 17. At age 18 after finishing high school, he was sent to Tajikistan for a year of pre-seminary discernment before entering Cardinal Barbarigo Seminary in Montefiascone, Italy.
For his summer vacation in 2019, Father Iurochkin traveled to the United States and was invited by Father Guerrero to the Diocese of Knoxville. He then requested and received permission to serve in the Diocese of Knoxville.
He arrived in Knoxville on Nov. 6, 2019, and began assisting at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. In December 2019, he was assigned to the basilica and the UT-Chattanooga Newman Center.
Father Iurochkin, who is fluent in Russian, English, Italian, Spanish, and Mandarin, celebrates Masses in English, Spanish, and Latin.
