St. Paul Catholic Church
St. Paul Parish Staff
Rev. Craig S. Smith, V.F. Pastor
smithc@stpaulcatholic.net Phone: 850-434-2551 Ext. 112
Father Craig grew up as an “Army Brat” to an American Father and a German mother. He has two older sisters and with his family was able to do a great deal of traveling due to his fathers career as a soldier. Father Craig went to a German high school and worked in a German factory before joining the United States Air Force for 10 years. In the Air Force, Father Craig was a “Crew Chief” performing various forms of maintenance on
F-111and F-15 aircraft. Father ended his Air Force career in 1996 at Tyndall AFB in Panama City Florida to begin studies for the Priesthood. Father Craig attended St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington Louisiana and St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach Florida. Ordained in 2005 for the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Father Craig has served at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Tallahassee, St. Mary Catholic Church in Ft. Walton Beach and as Pastor of Saint Louis Catholic Church in Tallahassee before assuming his responsibilities at Saint Paul Catholic Church. Father Craig presently serves as Diocesan Cursillo Spiritual Director and is on the Board of Trustees for Saint Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary as the Chair of the Physical Plant Committee.
FR. STEPHEN OLSON / PAROCHIAL VICAR
olsons@stpaulcatholic.net Phone 850-434-2551 Ext. 101
Fr. Steve is returning to St. Paul after serving the parish as a deacon during his last year of seminary 9 years ago. He grew up in the Fort Walton Beach area in a large military Catholic family. His home parish is St. Mary, where he attended the Catholic school, was active in the high school youth group, and later taught as an elementary and middle school teacher. After attending seminary in South Florida, he was ordained a priest in 2014. His first parish assignment was St. Dominic in Panama City. He was then sent to study canon law for the diocese at St. Paul University, and then returned to Pensacola to serve at the Tribunal and Pastoral Center. Other than two years in Ottawa, Canada, he has lived in Florida most of his life. He enjoys sports, especially volleyball and disc golf. He also currently serves in the diocesan Tribunal office.
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Dcn. William Whibbs / Deacon
Deacon Bill Whibbs was raised in Pensacola and has been joyfully married to Rosemary for over 40 years. They have four adult children and a few grandchildren. Deacon Bill enjoys exercise especially running. He is also a Medical Doctor, and Florida Gator as he graduated from the University Of Florida College Of Medicine in 1974. He served the Pensacola community for over 30 years in this capacity as a Family Practice Specialist. Retired from his regular practice, Dr. Whibbs is serving as Medical Director for Health First Network where he enjoys and looks forward to the unique opportunity to serve all of the participants in the Pensacola community health care delivery system.
Deacon Bill carries forth this passionate attitude of service as one who cares deeply for God's people and desires to serve the Body of Christ as a servant leader, doing all he can to gently lead people to Jesus.
​Born and raised in the suburbs of Cleveland, OH, Jo is big sister to 3 brothers. Jo graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor degree of science with a major in retail and minor in business management. She has more than 20 years of retail management experience. Jo is married to Andy and they have 4 children, all of whom attended St. Paul School.
Her ministry focus is to provide parishioners and guests with beautiful and educational items that will help inspire their love of the Catholic faith and share it with others. Jo says, "A major blessing in my life is the beautiful volunteers that help me make this ministry possible everyday!" In her spare time Jo enjoys photography, she also works part time as a newborn photographer, watching and traveling with her kids sports teams, and searching for items requested by her gift shop customers
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Miss. Sherry Vo, Events Manager
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Sherry grew up in Mobile, AL and attended St. Dominic's Parish with her loving mother. She graduated from the University of South Alabama with degree in psychology & biology. (double majored). Before coming to St. Paul, Sherry spent 7 years working professionally in the beer (beverage) industry for both Anheuser Busch and Miller Coors Brewing Company.
Sherry states: 2016 has been an incredible year filled with so many blessings from God. Not only am I cancer free, I have an amazing job where I get to work with amazing people, and to top it off, I have the greatest mother in the world. It is because of her unconditional love and guidance that I am the woman I am today. God is GREAT!
Mr. Neal Rowe, Facilities/Maintenance Assistant
Neal was born in Aurora, I; but has lived in Pensacola for the past 37 years. He is blessed to be married his amazing wife Melissa for 28 years and two wonderful sons and one granddaughter. Neal has worked in the construction and maintenance fields for 30 years. He enjoys playing disc golf, cooking, playing music, and spending as much time as he can with his family. Since coming to St. Paul Catholic Church, he has found a renewed passion, both personally and professionally. He is very grateful to be a part of our St. Paul family.
Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, Director of Faith Formation
thompsone@stpaulcatholic.net 850-434-2551 ext. 102
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Mrs. Blair Hodge, School Principal
hodgeb@stpaulcatholic.net 850-436-6435
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Blair Hodge has been promoted to the role of principal at St. Paul Catholic School in Pensacola, FL, where she has served as the assistant principal since 2015. Blair holds a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of West Florida and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she graduated magna cum laude. Prior to her role as assistant principal at St. Paul, Blair taught middle school science at St. Paul and was instrumental in creating a vertically-aligned middle school curriculum. Blair’s 16-year tenure in education, with 11 of those years in catholic education, at both the high school and middle school level, reflects her various teaching roles, including Advanced Placement and Honors Biology. Additionally, she has served on various leadership committees and is committed to serving her school and ensuring the continued success of Catholic education. Blair and her husband have been active parishioners at St. Paul Catholic Church since moving to Pensacola eight years ago. Their three children, Lilah, Parker, and Tyler have all attended St. Paul Catholic School. Lilah graduated from St. Paul in 2018 and Parker and Tyler will be in fifth and third grade this school year. Blair is proud of the many outstanding opportunities St. Paul offers its students and looks forward to continuing to work with the students, families, teachers and administrators to uphold the strong Catholic values and time-tested traditions of Catholic education. She believes strongly that the St. Paul community is responsible for the complete formation of the students so that they may grow closer to God while acquiring the skills and virtues necessary to be successful adults who will positively impact our world while spreading God’s love.
Mrs. Elaine Payne, Music Ministry
paynee@stpaulcatholic.net 850 434-2551 ext 109
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Elaine was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but Pensacola has always been a second home as this is where her mother’s family lived. She has a son who lives in Virginia with his wife, and has a daughter here in Pensacola. She moved here in February, 2015 following the birth of her granddaughter and has the joy of helping to care for her.
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Elaine attended Oklahoma Baptist University and has a Bachelor of Music degree with a major in piano performance and a minor in organ. She has been involved in music ministry since she began singing in a children’s choir at her church at the age of three. Prior to beginning her ministry at St. Paul, she served for 30 years as Associate Minister of Music/Organist at Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, VA.
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Elaine began her service as organist at St. Paul in February, 2015, and was named Director of Music Ministry earlier this year (2019). She feels blessed to be able to work with the parish staff and a dedicated core of choir members, and enjoys helping to train young singers to use their gifts in service to God.
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Mrs. Debbie Ridder, Director of Sacramental Education & Evangelization
ridderd@stpaulcatholic.net 850 434-2551 ext 104 ​​​
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