“I tried to give my whole self to the Lord’s people, “ Father Pat Sloneker said before taking a moment to compose himself. “The people here have been very gracious in forgiving my mistakes and failures, my lack of wisdom.”
Sloneker, 52, gets emotional when talking about leaving the Petersburg Parishes; he recently learned he would relocate to Incarnation Parish; it is a large suburban parish south of Dayton in July. Sloncker has been in this area for 15 of his 20 years since being ordained a priest, shepherding the parishes of Immaculate Conception in Botkins and St. Lawrence in Rhine where he was assigned in 2002. He’s been the pastor of St. Joseph for eight years, and St. John the Evangelist in Botkins for four years. The four churches make up the Petersburg Parishes, a union that developed a few years ago.
Sloneker is proud of...
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