Father John Stecher, 68, is returning to the Diocese of Davenport and will serve as full-time chaplain for the Kahl Home’s new facility starting in September.
A native of Farley, he graduated from Loras College in Dubuque and did his theological studies at Mt. St. Bernard Seminary in Dubuque and St. Mary Seminary in Baltimore.
On Jan. 29, 1972, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Gerald O’Keefe at the Carmelite Monastery in Bettendorf.
Fr. Stecher served as an associate pastor at St. Paul the Apostle in Davenport from 1972-77. He then served on faculty at Assumption High School in Davenport from 1977-82. He taught at St. Francis College in Fort Wayne, Ind., from 1982-84, followed by Mount St. Clare College in Clinton from 1984-89. He was on staff at the Newman Catholic Student Center in Iowa City from 1989-2006. Fr. Stecher served as a sacramental priest at St. Mary in Iowa City from 1998-2000, and at St. Patrick and St. Wenceslaus parishes in Iowa City from 2000-06. He had been serving as a chaplain at the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne since 2006.
