Our Father St. Thomas welcomes newly ordained priest

COEUR d’ALENE — It's the Rev. John Mosier's first priest gig, and he's here to tell His story.

By telling His story, he's also sharing the story of his beloved wife, Jackie, who died in 2008 after a long, courageous battle with breast cancer.

"It was what we talked about before she died,” he said, seated at a table in his new office in St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church. "My walk in faith is in many ways a derivative of or greatly enhanced by hers because she was so profoundly secure in her faith. It really affected me. She inspired me in her courage, in her walk, in her confidence.”

She told him to follow his heart — and pursue a long-held dream.

"Before she died, she said to me, ‘You have to promise me that you’ll live that faith or tell that story. Tell His story.'"

Those words are engraved on Mosier's Mass chalice, a reminder to carry on Jackie's legacy of love and faith.

“She was a wonderful girl, a Texas girl,” he said. "She was so kind and giving to others."

Still wearing his wedding ring, and now his white priest's collar, Mosier was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Peter Christensen in June at St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in Boise. His assignment to St. Thomas is his first official posting.

"It’s a privilege that I get to be here,” he said. “For a brand-new priest to be assigned here is beyond any imagination or expectation. To be assigned here as a first assignment is wonderful."

Mosier grew up among the farms and cornfields of Ohio, but he has spread his wings far beyond his humble country origins. He attended Marquette University, a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee. He graduated with degrees in physics and business and was commissioned as a Marine Corps lieutenant to serve six years as an infantry officer. That assignment showed him the best and worst of humanity in the Middle East and Europe.

"When I was in the Marines, I lived 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle in the Norwegian Alps," he said. "We were a ski unit, so we were an Arctic unit that lived up in the mountains. I lived there for three years. I lived in the snow. We would leave the United States in September and come back in March. We overwintered at the North Pole. I’m prepared for Idaho, I think."

After graduate school at Texas A&M University — where he earned advanced engineering and business degrees — Mosier spent 25 years in biomedical engineering. He had the opportunity to travel, to Austria, Germany, Holland, Czech Republic and Japan.

“That career was expansive," he said. "You could go a lot of places."

He met Jackie at A&M. They dated for a year and were engaged for another year before they wed. They shared a deep faith, one that has encouraged and inspired Mosier long after her passing. She remains ever-present in his heart, and in his actions.

Jackie knew John still harbored a dream of his youth. He was called to the cloth at a very young age.

"Just the other weekend, I found a letter that I had written. When I was 11, I had written to the leadership in the diocese in Ohio, inquiring about entering seminary back then,” he said. “They said, ‘Go wait seven years.’ It was fun finding that letter. For some reason, I hung onto it."

In addition to being well suited to his priestly duties, Mosier seems ready to take to Idaho like a sled to snow. He loves outdoor activities like cycling and skiing. When he and Jackie lived in Portland, they would travel to Boise for Gem State sunshine during dreary Portland winters.

"Boise was sentimental to me," he said. "I got to know the parish community in Boise, and when I was trying to decide what to do in terms of leaving my career in science and industry and pursue the church, the priesthood, Boise just made good sense because it was sentimentally attractive to me and I like the culture of Idaho. I like the topography, the climate. All the positives in the plus column are many."

Mosier and St. Thomas serve 900 local families. More families join the congregation almost daily.

"It’s growing fast," he said. "We’re excited about that enthusiasm in the faith. People are coming from many different areas."

At 7 tonight, on the evening of All Souls Day, Mosier and the St. Thomas community will gather in the St. Thomas Cemetery at Sherman Avenue and 23rd Street for a special ceremony. Parishioners and anyone else who'd like to attend is welcome.

"We’re honoring our loved ones whose life on this earth has ended,” Mosier said. "It’s a long, long tradition in Europe that had gone on for centuries that you hold a Mass in a church’s cemetery at night, and it's to honor and bless and reflect on the lives of all our ancestors who’ve gone before us in the faith."

Proverbs 3 contains a verse close to Mosier's heart: "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths," Mosier said. 

"That’s how I got to Coeur d’Alene."