Meet the Staff
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Father Palka was born in Michigan but the family moved down to Florida when he was a child. He grew up in the Orlando Diocese but came to Tampa when he was in college and received his undergraduate degree at USF. He entered the seminary several years later and was ordained for the Diocese of St. Petersburg in 1996. He has absolutely no outstanding talents or abilities but is rather a mediocre parish priest whose goal is to save the souls of his parishioners through a reverent celebration of the Mass and other sacraments.
You may email him @ fatherpalka@epiphanytampa.com. |
Pastor
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The image to the left has been voted Most Animated Facial Expression Caught on Camera! |
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Father Dorvil is a fantastic missionary priest of the order of St. Louis de Montfort. He hails from Haiti and serves the Haitian community in our diocese. He regularly celebrates Mass for his people at St. Peter Claver parish nearby but they have no room for him to live so we are the blessed ones who get to see him every day! During the week he celebrates Mass here and has his office on our property.
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In Residence and Parochial Administrator of Immaculate Conception Haitian Mission
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Father Peter, also known as Fr. Tien and several other names (Vietnamese have strange ways of naming their priests!) is a Blessed Sacrament Father. Recently ordained, he was thrust into his current position by the Bishop when the former pastor of both Epiphany and St. Joseph Vietnamese Mission retired. He is new to the Diocese and this is his first assignment in a parish. He is in charge of St. Joseph Vietnamese Mission, which meets at Epiphany parish and has a larger congregation than the parish itself!
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Priest-In-Charge of
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Fr. Tuoc was the long-time pastor of Epiphany of Our Lord and was also in charge of the St. Joseph Vietnamese Mission. He retired last year and, though he still lives at the parish and assists with Mass when he is here, he also travels extensively, enjoying his retirement by visiting family and assisting other Vietnamese priests who have a difficult time finding someone to take their place while they go on vacation, take classes for further education, or take a retreat. He is certainly a blessing to many, many people even in retirement.
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In Residence and Pastor Emeritus
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Now for the non-clergy staff members (you know, the ones who do most of the work!)
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Mark is now here and James is not. But nothing has been written about him yet. Stay tuned...
The newest member of our staff is James McCoy. He was almost willing to smile for this photo but thought staff photos should be more "formal." Little did he know what kind of "formal" introduction was going to be written in this space! He has impressive credentials as a receptionist, having received specialized training from the world renowned Lily Tomlin at Ernestine's Ringy Dingy School of Telephone Operators. As our parish archivist he is no slouch, either, having long ago published a book called Handwriting for Doctors: Three Easy Steps to Chicken-scratch Fame. To this day it is a top seller under a special sub-sub-heading of "Those who hit the most wrongest button on Amazon." Welcome to our parish, James!
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Receptionist and Secretary
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Kim is our sole Eskimo on staff. She handles all of the calls from those who only speak Aleut. Due to her amazing language skills, she also signs the Low Mass people's responses for our television broadcast which we have set up for our blind parishioners. In doing so she uses both American Sign Language and Aleutian Sign Language and, every once in a while, just for fun, she includes some Pig-Latin!
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Assistant Secretary
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This poor man was struck by lightning one day while walking a tightrope at the circus (which is why they now use wooden balance poles rather than metal ones) and he has ever since been unable to move his arms from the position you see in the photo to the right. In a bout of Catholic charity, we hired him as our choir director because he just kind of blends in that way and nobody has ever noticed his handicap. It is unfortunate that he lost his hearing in that zapping, though, so he does not even know whether he is successful in his job or not. Sometimes, just for fun, the schola pretends to sing as if imitating an old dubbed Godzilla movie.
OK, Anders is, so far, the only staff member to actually read and comment on this page. He prefers the following description of his qualifications and/or job description to the one above so painstakingly compiled. "Choirmaster Anders Bergmann has lived in the Diocese of St. Petersburg since 2010, and is an Alumnus of the University of Florida (Go Gators!). He was introduced to Gregorian Chant and Sacred Polyphony at the Traditional Latin Mass at Queen of Peace Catholic Church, Ocala (about 40 miles south of Gainesville), while in school, and has never turned back. Until taking the position at Epiphany of Our Lord, he spent time working as a voice section leader and associate Choirmaster in various Episcopal churches, as well as directed the schola for Incarnation Catholic Church's Traditional Latin Mass community. Also an accomplished countertenor, he has sung in various productions throughout Florida. When not at church, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Katherine, and their ever-growing family." |
Music Director
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Maintenance
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Maintenance
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Everett Thomas
The man who knows everything Sunday morning.
And here are our Special Staff members!
Unpaid but invaluable!
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These two invaluable members of our parish staff, a mother and son team, hang out in the rectory chapel day in and day out. We would not know what to do without them! |
Our Cornerstone!
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Immaculate Conception |
Sacred Heart |