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Spiritual DirectorFr. James Swift, C.M., is a priest of the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentian Fathers and Brothers), and was ordained to the priesthood in 1978. He is currently a member of the Formation Faculty at St. Mary’s Seminary where he serves as a resident spiritual director.
He has spent most of his priesthood in seminary ministry, especially at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, as a professor of theology and liturgy, a spiritual director, a director of worship and spiritual formation, and a director of the Master of Arts program. He has assisted at a St. Louis Maronite Catholic parish for 15 years, has directed the Program of Initial Formation for the permanent diaconate of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and served as the coordinator and director for the Mass in St. Louis by Pope St. John Paull II in 1999. Father has served his Vincentian Community as Provincial Superior of the Midwest Province and Kenya (2002-2010). He has recently completed a term as Rector of Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, TX (2014-2022).
He holds a Licentiate and Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (1985, 1988), a Master of Arts in Liturgical Research from Notre Dame University (1978), a Master of Arts in Sacramental Theology and a Master of Divinity from De Andreis Seminary outside Chicago (1978), and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Literature from St. Thomas Seminary in Denver (1973).
