Padua Franciscan High School is proud to announce the addition of Fr. Stephen DeWitt, OFM to the staff.
A Franciscan friar, Catholic priest and licensed social worker, DeWitt will serve as Padua’s Director of Community Outreach. He will work with Padua’s Advancement team to help with grant writing.
DeWitt is a native of Buffalo, New York and comes to Padua after spending seven years as a team social worker at the St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia. For four years, he was the spiritual assistant at St. Francis Fraternity, also in Philadelphia.
At the St. Francis Inn, DeWitt coordinated direct assistance programs and developed new programs and services to better meet the needs of their guests. Additionally, he led presentations (typically for high school and college students) describing the work done by Franciscans. DeWitt also worked with social service and government organizations on many projects and services.
From August of 2014 to August of 2017, DeWitt served as parochial administer at St. Bonaventure Church in Paterson, New Jersey, where he was responsible for strategic planning and oversight, fundraising, and pastoral planning and leadership.
DeWitt has worked in Paterson, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in History and Theology from St. Bonaventure University (2004), a Certificate of Merit in Spanish from the Instituto De Idiomas De Maryknoll in Bolivia (2010), a Master of Divinity from the Washington Theological Union (2012) and a Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania (2022).
He brings to Padua nearly 15 years of experience working in ministry, including leading retreats, administering sacraments, and participating in service activities, as well as fundraising, research and analysis, grant writing and social work.
