|
Prince of Peace's Pastoral Administrator Father Christopher Smith is a native of Greenville, South Carolina. He was received into the Catholic Church at the age of 13 at St Mary’s Catholic Church downtown.
He graduated from Southside High School and from Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. After a year living in Rome studying at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, he entered priestly formation at the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary, the Pope’s personal seminary, for service in the Diocese of Charleston. While there, he obtained a licentiate in dogmatic theology from the Gregorian University and also studied French at the Institut Catholique in Paris.
Father Smith was ordained Deacon by Camillo Cardinal Ruini, Papal Vicar for the Diocese of
Rome, on 30 October 2004 and Priest by Bishop Robert Baker of Charleston on 23 July 2005. Father Smith spent two years at St Mary’s, Greenville as Parochial Vicar and then Administrator pro tempore. He then was assigned to St Peter’s parish in Beaufort and Holy Cross parish on St Helena’s Island SC as Parochial Vicar and Administrator pro tempore. He spent two years at St Francis-by-the-Sea on Hilton Head Island. In his assignments before Prince of Peace, Fr. Smith served in Hispanic Ministry, in chaplaincy and teaching in parochial schools, and in apostolate to the sick. While in Beaufort and Hilton Head, Father Smith pursued a Master of Business Administration degree at the Citadel.
In 2009, Father Smith enrolled at the University of Navarre in Pamplona, Spain. He has been writing his doctoral dissertation in dogmatic theology on the thought of twentieth-century French Jesuit Henri De Lubac. He is scheduled to defend his thesis in May 2012.
Father Smith speaks Spanish, Italian, French and some German. He enjoys reading, kickboxing, and music. He is a member of the Church Music Association of America and contributes regularly to the Chant Café blog. He is also a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and is a speaker on sacred music, liturgy, theology, and catechesis.
|