Silver Valley Catholics welcome new leaders

The Silver Valley welcomed the two newest additions to its local Catholic churches, Father Jerome Montez and Deacon John McKinley.

Father Jerome Montez O.S.B. (Order of St. Benedict) is a Benedictine Monk from the Monastery of the Ascension in Jerome, Idaho.

Montez has been a monk for 34 years, and an ordained priest for 18 years.

"A Benedictine Monk's main focus is to pray and to work, with an emphasis on hospitality," said Montez.

Earlier this year, Montez was asked personally by Bishop Peter Christensen to come here and serve as the local priest.

From that point, Christensen also had to have permission from the monastery to relocate Montez to the Silver Valley.

Christensen is the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise, which includes the entire state of Idaho.

Montez has accepted quite the steep challenge as he will be serving in five area Catholic churches - St. Michael in Mullan, St. Alphonsus in Wallace, St. Rita in Kellogg, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Harrison, and St. Mary Immaculate in St. Maries, as well as the nursing homes and hospitals in the area.

"My goal and vision here is to serve all five parishes equally," said Montez.

"We are working out the scheduling but it is my hope that we have Mass once a week in each city and I can spend at least one day a week at each parish."

Since arriving, Montez has enjoyed the area extensively and enjoys being able to walk everywhere.

Montez is also an avid model railroader and is excited to get to work on his newest scale model to share with the community.

With such a large workload ahead of him, Montez is excited to have the help of Deacon John McKinley.

McKinley will be assuming the responsibilities of Parish Life Director for the area.

The position will have him in an administrative assistant role, which includes keeping a close eye on the day to day operations of the five parishes and making sure all the behind-the-scenes work is taken care of so that Montez can focus on ministry.

"If there is preparation work that is needed, or the sound system in one of the parishes isn't working correctly, or someone has a concern, Deacon McKinley will make sure it all gets taken care of for me," said Father Jerome.

Despite the new position here in the church, McKinley is not new to the area.

He moved to Wallace in 1980 and operated a milk delivery business.

In 1983 he was ordained here in the Silver Valley.

When the mining industry began to fold, McKinley had no choice but to relocate himself and his family to places like Spokane and later on, Twin Falls.

McKinley is very happy and excited to be back in the area.

"It's such a beautiful place and a lot has changed, part of the allure of returning here was the thought of being able to retire here," said McKinley.

Montez will be primarily based in Kellogg and McKinley will be based in Wallace.

For more information, including Mass schedules, call St. Alphonsus at (208) 752-3551 or St. Rita at (208) 784-7361.