Fr. Christopher Aubuchon to be vocation director, Fr. Daniel Merz to be vicar for diaconate

Click here to read Bishop McKnight's Official Decree of May 22, 2018.

Bishop W. Shawn McKnight has appointed several priests to serve in special roles for the Jefferson City diocese.

Among these are a new diocesan vocation director and assistant vocation director; a new vicar for the permanent diaconate; a diocesan moderator of spiritual formation; a diocesan moderator of marriage and family life; a moderator of ministry to youth and young adults; and a dean to international priests.

These appointments, part of an Official Decree the bishop set forth on May 22, take effect June 27.

•Father Christopher M. Aubuchon will succeed Father P. Gregory Oligschlaeger as full-time diocesan vocations director.

As part of his duties as vocation director, he will also serve as part-time chaplain at Helias Catholic High School in Jefferson City and part-time associate pastor of St. Thomas More Newman Center parish in Columbia.

Fr. Oligschlaeger, who has been vocation director since 2015, is returning to full-time parish ministry.

Ordained to the Holy Priesthood in 2014, Fr. Aubuchon is currently pastor of St. Joseph parish in Canton, Queen of Peace parish in Ewing and the Mission of Notre Dame in LaGrange and canonical pastor of St. Michael parish in Kahoka, Shrine of St. Patrick parish in St. Patrick and the Mission of St. Martha in Wayland.

He previously served as associate pastor of Cathedral of St. Joseph parish in Jefferson City.

•Father Daniel J. Merz SLD, will serve as diocesan director of the permanent diaconate, and to continue as pastor of St. George parish in Linn, Immaculate Conception parish in Loose Creek, St. Louis of France in Bonnots Mill, and Our Lady Help of Christians parish in Frankenstein and as chairman of the Diocesan Liturgical Commission.

He succeeds the late Father Frank A. Bussmann, who died in November 2017.

Ordained to the Holy Priesthood in 1998, Fr. Merz previously served as assistant director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat on Divine Worship in Washington, D.C., and before that a faculty member, vice rector and dean of students at Conception Seminary College in Conception.

Before that, he served as associate pastor of Cathedral of St. Joseph parish in Jefferson City.

He holds a licentiate in sacred liturgy from the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy in Rome. He has been director of the Diocesan Liturgical Commission since 2007.

•Father Matthew J. Flatley will serve in the newly created role of diocesan moderator of spiritual formation, while continuing as pastor of Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Vienna and Holy Guardian Angels parish in Brinktown.

Ordained in 2012, he previously served as associate pastor of the Vienna and Brinktown parishes as well as St. Aloysius parish in Argyle.

He is the former coordinator and current spiritual director for the Contemplative Outreach of Central Missouri.

•Father Anthony Viviano will serve in the newly created role of diocesan moderator of marriage and family life, while continuing as pastor of St. Joseph parish in Westphalia and St. Anthony of Padua parish in Folk.

Ordained in 2012, he has been pastor of the Folk parish since 2013 and of the Westphalia parish since 2017. He has also been part-time chaplain at Helias Catholic since 2013.

He previously served as associate pastor of St. Peter parish in Jefferson City.

•Father Dylan Schrader will serve in the newly created roles of moderator of youth/young adults and religious education, the bishop’s delegate for the Extraordinary Form Mass, and chaplain to home school families, in addition to serving as pastor of St. Brendan parish in Mexico.

Ordained to the Holy Priesthood in 2010, Fr. Schrader is completing a doctorate in systematic theology with an emphasis in catechesis at The Catholic University of America.

He previously served as sacramental minister of St. Mary parish in Milan and the Mission of St. Mary in Unionville; administrator of St. Mary parish in Glasgow and St. Joseph parish in Slater; and associate pastor of Cathedral of St. Joseph and Immaculate Conception parishes, both in Jefferson City.

•Father Joshua J. Duncan will serve as diocesan master of ceremonies to the bishop, assistant diocesan vocation director and part-time chaplain at Helias Catholic High School in Jefferson City, while continuing to serve as associate pastor and master of ceremonies at the Cathedral of St. Joseph.

He has been associate pastor at the Cathedral parish since his ordination in 2016.

•Father Roberto M. Ike, a priest of the Diocese of Okigwe, Nigeria, who is a professor of business administration at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, will also serve in the newly created role of diocesan dean for international priests in the diocese.

•Father Patrick Dowling will assist in nursing-home ministry and hospital ministry in Jefferson City, in addition to his duties in prison ministry.

Ordained in 1981, he has served in many parishes and ministries throughout the diocese.

•As announced in February, Father Joseph S. Corel, previous diocesan vicar general and interim transition coordinator, will serve as diocesan vicar for prison ministry.

He will continue as pastor of St. Andrew parish in Holts Summit.