Fr. Mike Mahoney, parochial vicar at St. Theresa Parish in Des Moines, joins The Catholic Morning Show to talk about entering his third school year and the biggest change yet: teaching middle school religion for the first time in ten years. He shares how he builds relationships with students through classroom visits, car-line greetings, and lunch with different grades throughout the year. Fr. Mahoney closes with encouragement for students and families navigating a new school year, urging them not to be afraid to be authentically themselves.
Fr. Mike Mahoney serves as parochial vicar at St. Theresa Parish, 1230 Merle Hay Road in Des Moines, where he assists with both the sacramental and administrative life of the parish and its school. On this episode, he explains what a parochial vicar does day-to-day, how he gets to know students and staff each year — including new faculty joining the building this fall — and what's changing for him personally: for the first time since entering the priesthood, he'll be teaching a class of his own, middle school religion, alongside his regular parish duties.
Fr. Mahoney also reflects on how quickly students opened up to him as a new priest a few years ago, what that's taught him about representing Christ to the kids in his care, and the advice he'd give any student — new to a school or moving up a grade — heading into the fall: authenticity over image, and confidence in the gifts God gave you.
Learn more about the parish at SaintTheresaIowa.org.
Hashtags
#CatholicSchools #BackToSchool #CatholicPriest #DesMoinesCatholic #ParochialVicar #StTheresaParish #CatholicEducation #FrMikeMahoney