Three changes in assignments will affect priests on June 22.
Father Tony Herold, pastor of Prince of Peace Parish in Clinton, was to become administrator of Sacred Heart parishes in Lost Nation and Oxford Junction and St. James Parish in Toronto effective June 26 while remaining in Clinton. Fr. Herold will be relieved of that duty under the new assignments.
Father Mark Spring, who has been a chaplain at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison will become parochial vicar at Holy Family Parish in Fort Madison and St. Joseph Parish in Montrose. He will reside in Montrose.
Fr. Spring, 61, was born in Germany and raised in Fort Madison. He graduated from the junior college in Burlington and served in the Air Force for more than three years before graduating from St. Ambrose College in Davenport. He completed his theology studies at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wis.
On Aug. 29, 1980, he was ordained by Bishop Gerald O’Keefe at Sacred Heart Church in Fort Madison.
He served as temporary administrator at St. Joseph in Montrose in 1980, then associate pastor at St. James in Washington from 1980-81. Fr. Spring became an administrator at St. Mary Magdalen in Bloomfield and St. Aloysius in Eldon from 1981-84. He then served as a chaplain in the Air Force from 1984-97. Upon his return to the diocese, Fr. Spring was parochial vicar, then pastor, of St. Mary Parish in Muscatine from 1997-98. He then served as pastor of St. Mary in Riverside from 1998-99 while also in the Iowa City Deanery. He was pastor of St. Anthony in Knoxville and Sacred Heart in Melcher from 1999-2008. After a month-long leave of absence, Fr. Spring became chaplain at the Iowa State Penitentiary.
Father Gregory Steckel, 56, will become administrator pro-tem at Sacred Heart Parish in Lost Nation, St. James Parish in Toronto and Sacred Heart Parish in Oxford Junction.
He was born and raised in Moline, Ill., and graduated from Northern Illinois University with a degree in child development. He completed his theology studies at St. John University Seminary in Collegeville, Minn.
On July 12, 1981, he was ordained by Bishop O’Keefe at St. Anthony Church in Davenport.
Fr. Steckel was appointed temporary administrator of St. Joseph in Sugar Creek, then acting chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Davenport. From 1981-82 he served as associate pastor of Our Lady of Victory in Davenport, then administrator of St. Peter in Buffalo from 1982-85. He was pastor at St. Boniface in Farmington and St. Mary in String Prairie in 1985 until taking a leave of absence. Upon his return, he resumed being pastor at Farmington and String Prairie from 1986-87. After a leave, Fr. Steckel served as chaplain at the East Moline Correction Center in East Moline, Ill., from 1988-2001. He served as sacramental minister at St. Peter in Cosgrove and St. Mary in Oxford as well as assisting in the pastor care department at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City in 2001.
Fr. Steckel served as a chaplain at the Federal Bureau of Prisons U.S. Penitentary in Leavensworth, Kan., from 2001-05 and then chaplain at the federal prison camp in Yankton, S.D., from 2005-08.
In July 2008 Fr. Steckel returned to the diocese and has been serving as parochial vicar at Holy Family Parish in Fort Madison and St. Joseph Parish in Montrose.
