Three priests in Youngstown diocese get new assignments

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The following priests in the Diocese of Youngstown have received new assignments from Bishop George V. Murry.

The Rev. Martin Celuch was appointed pastor of Christ Our Savior Parish in Struthers, effective July 1.

The Rev. John Jerek was appointed pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, effective Sept. 1.

The Rev. Craig McHenry was appointed pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Warren, effective July 1.

Father Celuch, a native of Slovakia, was ordained for the Archdiocese of Kosice in the Slovak Republic on June 14, 2003, by the Most Reverend Alojz Tkac, Archbishop of Kosice. His seminary studies took place at St. Charles Borromeo in the Slovak Republic and St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pa.

He has served as associate pastor at St. Nicholas Parish in Struthers and Holy Family Parish in Poland.

On May 1, 2013, he was appointed pastor of Our Lady of Sorrow Parish. He also was named an assistant in the diocesan Office of Canonical Services in 2007.

After Canon Law studies at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., he was appointed a judge for the diocesan Tribunal and a member of the Board of Conciliation. On July 1, 2015, he was appointed adjutant judicial vicar.

Father Celuch was incardinated into the Diocese of Youngstown in 2008.

Father Jerek, a native of Youngstown, earned dual bachelor’s degrees in journalism and communications at Bowling Green State University in 1982. He interned with the Diocesan Communications Office.

Father Jerek studied for the priesthood at Mount St. Mary of the West Seminary, Cincinnati, earning a master of divinity and a master of arts in theology from the Athenaeum of Ohio, the seminary’s degree-granting institution.

He completed a pastoral internship year at St. Michael in Canton, and a clinical pastoral education program as a chaplain at the Catherine McAuley Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.

During the summer of 1987, he worked with a mission team in Zimbabwe.

Father Jerek was ordained June 18, 1988, in St. Columba Cathedral by Bishop James W. Malone. He served as associate pastor at St. Nicholas in Struthers for three years before accepting a post as priest catechist and later associate principal at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren. He was appointed pastor of University Parish Center in August 1996 and added the role of diocesan director of campus ministry in July 1998.

Father Jerek was appointed vicar for clergy and religious services July 1, 2008, and named administrator of St. John the Baptist Parish in Campbell at the same time.

He also was named director of seminarians in February 2009. He was appointed administrator of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish in Lowellville in August 2011, while retaining the post of vicar for clergy and religious services. Father Jerek also is a faculty member for the diocesan Lay Ministry Formation Program.

Father McHenry, a native of Perry, Ohio, attended Stark State and Walsh University. He studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical College Josephinum, Columbus, and at Mount St. Mary Seminary, Cincinnati.

He was ordained June 21, 2014, by Bishop Murry. He has served as parochial vicar at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Canton since July 12, 2014. Father McHenry is a member of the Priest Personnel Board.