Letter from the Pastor
Dear Friends in Christ,
Greetings in the Lord Jesus!
My name is Fr. Mark M. Hamilton, and as of last Wednesday, June 22nd, I am the new Pastor here at St. Martha Catholic Church.
As we begin a life together, let me take the time to briefly share some of my personal data. I was born and raised in Springfield, Kentucky. I am the youngest of 5 children, and I have two brothers and two sisters. I am blessed to still have both my parents, Robert (Sports) and Reba, as very active parts of my life. My two sisters live close by, and one can expect to see many members of my family around the parish.
I graduated from Western Kentucky University in 1988, with a double major in History and Political Science. In the fall of 1989, I entered Mundelein Seminary in Chicago. In August 1990, I received an appointment to study at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, which is the American bishop's seminary in the Vatican. While there I received two degrees, one in theology, and another in ecumenical studies.
Following ordination, on August 6, 1994, I was sent to St. Barnabas for three years. After a two year assignment in Bardstown at St. Joseph, I was again sent to Rome for doctorial studies in 2000. I finished my dissertation from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in dogmatic theology, with an emphasis in sacraments.
In August of 2003 I was asked to join the faculty at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. For six years I was the director of Undergraduate Formation, an associate Professor and a member of Pontifical Faculty.
My most recent pastoral assignments have been, several months as parish administrator at St. Catherine, New Haven. This past year I returned to Michigan and was an associate pastor at St. Paul-on-the-Lake, Grosse Pointe Farms. It was during this past year that I truly missed home, and it was Archbishop Kurtz that offered this parish to me as I asked to return to Kentucky permanently.
As we spend more time together we will come to know and appreciate each other more deeply, but for now, please know above all else... that I am happy and see myself as truly blessed to be at St. Martha.
