Meet the Parish Staff
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Pastor
Father Tom
Shoemaker was assigned pastor of St. Jude in July
of 2001. A native of Gas City, Indiana, he attended
Wabash College and I.U. School of Dentistry. After
practicing dentistry for two years, he enrolled at St. John's
Seminary in Boston.
Fr. Tom was ordained a priest in 1990. He was
previously assigned to St. Matthew Cathedral in South Bend
(1990-1998), and St. Henry and Sacred Heart parishes in Fort
Wayne (1998-2001).
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Associate Pastor
Fr. Robert D’Souza
has been assigned to St. Jude Parish and Parkview Hospital since August, 1997. Ordained in
India in 1973, he received his degrees in theology and philosophy from the Papal Athenium
in Pane, India. In India he was involved in pastoral ministry, school and diocesan
administration, and served as the Director of Boys Town in Calcutta. Since coming to the
states at the invitation of Bishop John D’Arcy, he has been actively involved as a
Catholic chaplain at Parkview Hospital and in assisting the Pastor with various
sacramental duties. He was incardinated in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend on
February 2, 2000.
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Deacon
Jim Tighe
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Pastoral Associate
Mary Pohlman has
been serving St. Jude since 1978, when she began teaching in
the parish grade school. Later, she coordinated the Young Adult
Group. In 1990, she became the full time Pastoral Associate.
Mary works with parish volunteers in our ministry
to the sick and homebound, especially through the Social
Action Committee and the St.
Vincent de Paul Society. She helps guide the educational
and spiritual life of parishioners though the Adult Education
Committee and yearly Lenten
series. Mary coordinates all our liturgical ministers, works
with children’s liturgies for the school, and meets with
families to prepare funeral liturgies. She also gains much satisfaction
in leading our “Re-Member’s”,
those Catholics who are returning to the Church.
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Director of Music Ministries
Kevin Demetroff has been a member of St. Jude Parish since entering first grade at
St. Jude School in 1956. He studied piano with Sr. Mary Redempta and organ with Louis Peil
and Ed Throm. Since 1985, he has served the parish as Director of Music Ministries. He is
parish organist, responsible for music at parish liturgies and works with the
choir, cantors,
and instrumentalists.
He is a resource for the preparation of school Masses. He provides resources for the
Liturgy Committee and works to prepare all
public worship in the parish. In addition to preparation and practice time, he helps
approximately 50 couples each year prepare for weddings. He also plays and directs music
for 65 Funeral liturgies in an average year.
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Director of Religious Education
Sue Sherburne began her association with Saint Jude Parish
in 1974 when she did her student teaching in 4th
grade. She then
taught for six years before she and her husband, Steve, had
six daughters, three of whom graduated from St. Jude.
As a stay-at-home-mom for 19 years Sue was actively
involved in Queen of Angels Parish with School Board, Parish
Council and Religious Education. She also served on the
Bishop Dwenger School Board.
Mrs. Sherburne returned to St. Jude as a teacher in
2000 through 2009. As
Director of Religious Education Sue now supervises the
parish Religious Education Program from pre-K to grade 8.
Through sacramental preparation programs Sue teaches
parent classes for Baptism, First Reconciliation, Eucharist
and Confirmation.
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Director of Development
Heather
Cisz is the Development Director. She has
been a member of the Parish since she was confirmed in
1999. She has served as the Development Director since
2004. The Director of
Development is responsible for all marketing
and public relations, all alumni relations, editing of publications (including
The Grapevine, the annual directory, the
parish web site and the annual report), encouraging volunteer
involvement, grant writing, chairing the Development Committee as well as long range
planning for Saint Jude’s. Long range planning includes such items as
endowments, annuities, estate gift program, etc. Works with both parish and school
staff to develop a plan to spread the message of Saint Jude’s and ensure its
continuance for generations to come.
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Director of Spiritual Development
Joyce Racine first
joined St. Jude Church in 1973. Through the years she has shared her time, talent and
treasure as a volunteer for many parish ministries. She first served the Order of
Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) as a sponsor in 1987 and was a member of the first
Shared Faith Communities Core Team. Joyce joined the parish staff as Director of
Spiritual Development directing the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults and Shared
Faith Communities in August 2000. She is continuing her education in theological studies
from the University of Dayton.
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Youth Ministry
John Zollinger has been a parishioner of St.
Jude's for over nineteen years. After volunteering in the
Youth Ministry program for the last six years,
John became the full time youth minister on July 16, 2001. As coordinator of youth
ministry he is responsible for the junior high (6th to 8th grade), senior high ( grades 9
to 12), and the young adult group. John will work with these three groups as they develop
their spiritual life through weekly meetings, social events, retreats and service work.
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Business Manager
John Offerle has been a member of St. Jude Parish his
whole life and is an alumnus of
St. Jude Catholic School. He
has been involved with a number of parish ministries
throughout his years here, especially in youth ministry.
In fact, he was the Youth Ministry Coordinator for 10
years from 1991-2001. He
left that position and was a Pastoral Care Associate at
St. Anne Home for almost 5 years before returning to work at St. Jude in
July of 2006 as the Business Manager. He is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the
business side of the Parish and School, including budgeting,
accounting, and facilities management. He chairs the Finance Committee and the Building and
Grounds Committee.
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Administrative Assistant - Records
Mary Harness, a parishioner since 1979, began maintaining the records in the
parish on a full time basis in the summer of 2000. Prior to that, she had been working on
them since 1989 on a part time basis, along with being a part time secretary at St. Jude
School. Her job entails monitoring the constantly changing membership lists keeping
computer records up to date. Mary also posts all weekly contributions and handles
the reporting to parishioners, as well as taking care of the weekly bulletin and being
responsible for calendar events. Also, she coordinates the distribution of holiday food
baskets and the Giving Tree at Christmas.
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School Principal
Sister Kathleen Marie Knueven, SND,
is a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame from Toledo, Ohio. Professed in 1967, she has
served as teacher and principal in the Toledo, Ohio and Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana
Dioceses. Sister has served St. Jude as Principal since 1998. She is responsible for
overseeing the Parish Grade School, with an
enrollment of 655 students, Pre K – Grade 8. She supervises a staff of 40 teachers
and 9 support staff; in addition to working with the
Parish Council,
School Board, and various
educational committees.
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