Farewell Father Daniel Hess

The story below was originally published in The Athenaeum, MTSM’s bi-annual magazine. The Athenaeum is published twice a year for alumni, patrons and friends of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology. To be added to the mailing list, contact: Heidi Walsh at 513.233.6159 or hwalsh@athenaeum.edu.

The end of the academic year will also see Rev. Daniel K. Hess, S.T.L., J.D. move on to a new role in the Church in the United States. With the approval of Archbishop Robert G. Casey, Father Hess will be moving to Washington, D.C. to serve as the Associate Director of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). He will begin his role with USCCB in July.

“This happened out of the blue near the start of the academic year,” Father Hess recalled. “When this first came to Archbishop Casey, he was open to it, which is a big step for a bishop to give up a priest. He was very encouraging to help me visualize and consider how this ask at a national level can be something that is important and of good service to the Church in a different way. I’ll be back in the Archdiocese in a few years and this experience will help shape my service back to the people of God in a different way.”

Among Father Hess’ qualifications to take up his new role with USCCB comes from his three years serving as Director of the Propaedeutic Stage at MTSM. The Propaedeutic Stage, a 12-month program at the beginning of a seminarian’s time in priestly formation, was implemented at MTSM in Fall 2023 following the development and approval of the sixth edition of the Program of Priestly Formation in the United States of America (PPF), which was developed in accordance with the Holy See’s 2016 document Ratio Fundamentalis Institutiones Sacerdotalis.

“Part of the job of the staff I will be joining is ensuring we get the right people in the room to get their input and get the right information in front of the bishops,” Father Hess noted. “The PPF was probably their last big project, there is still implementation and evaluation going on with that, especially in the Propaedeutic Year. The bishops want to know if this is working and bearing the fruits we want it to bear, I have the experience of one Seminary, it is then getting the perspective of other seminaries, other dioceses, Vocations Directors and Spiritual Directors too.”

As the title of the office Father Hess will be working with going forward indicates in its name, this office is not just focused on the formation for the diocesan priesthood, they are also involved in the formation program for the permanent diaconate, consecrated religious (men and women) and vocations to all the above.

“There are 15 collaborating partner organizations that fall under the broad heading of ‘Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations’,” Father Hess noted. “I will not be speaking for the bishops on our committee, but I can report on what the bishops are doing with the committee that affects that organization and then you receive from them what they want communicated to the bishops.”

When Father Hess and the men in the Propaedeutic Stage return from the annual trip to walk part of the Camino de Santiago in June, it will conclude seven years of ministry at MTSM, which has also included work as a weekend associate at many local parishes, including currently the Holy Family Parish in Owensville and Batavia.

“The seven years here at MTSM has been such a joy and blessing,” Father Hess said. “A lot of the men being ordained to the priesthood this year started the same year that I returned as a member of the faculty. It has been a real grace to go fully through the formation with one class. I will miss being part of the grace-filled process of working with good men who are being formed to be priests that takes many years. We get to be witnesses to the work of the Holy Spirit to see these men grow the skills and vision to serve the people of God at the parish level and the Church more broadly. I think about how my parents, my siblings and my cousins, the priest that serves them is a priest that I know from here. It is a beautiful thing.”