Father Toups is a priest of the Diocese of St. Petersburg in Florida. He attended St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami were he obtained a B.A. degree (Philosophy and Theology) in 1993. He then attended the Pontifical North American College in Rome receiving an S.T.B and S.T.L. in Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained a priest on June 14, 1997. After completing his studies, he was assigned as parochial vicar of St. Frances Cabrini Parish in Spring Hill, Florida for four years. During this time, he also served as a member of the Diocesan Presbyteral Council, the Regional Seat on National Board of the NFPC (National Federation of Priests’ Councils), and as an observer for Region IV to the USCCB General Assembly for the years 2000-2002.
From 2002-2004, Father Toups returned to Rome for doctoral studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). Upon his completion of the Doctorate in Sacred Theology, he was appointed Assistant Dean of Students at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida, where he also taught Liturgy and Sacraments. The following year he was appointed Dean, a position he held until being assigned in 2007 to the position of Associate Director of the newly formed Committee of Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C.
In June 2009, Fr. Toups was appointed the Interim Executive Director of the Secretariat, a position he will hold until he returns to serve in his diocese in June 2010.
The secretariat will welcome Sister Mary Joanna Ruhland as its new Associate Director in January 2010. She is originally from St. Cloud Diocese in Minnesota and attended the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, where she obtained a B.A. degree in Theology. She then attended Franciscan University of Steubenville and obtained a Master’s degree in Theology and Christian Ministry. After serving in the Diocese of Duluth as the Diocesan Coordinator of Adolescent Catechesis and Youth Ministry, Sister entered the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan in 1998.
Sister Mary Joanna was sent to Rome during the Jubilee Year, and she served at the U.S. Bishops Office for Visitors to the Vatican. She attended the Pontifical University of St. Thomas and the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (“Santa Croce”) to study philosophy. As she finished these studies, Sister served as a Co-Administrator of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious’s Domus Sanctae Mariae Guadalupe House of Studies. Last May Sister finished a License of Sacred Theology from the Alfonsian Academy of the Pontifical Lateran University (“Alphonsianum”).
Father W. Shawn McKnight will assume the position of Executive Director of the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations in July 2010, succeeding Father David Toups.
He is currently the pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Wichita, Kansas. In addition to parish work, his experience includes years in seminary formation, education of deacons, college chaplaincy and membership on his diocesan presbyteral council.
Father McKnight is the son of Mary Elizabeth (OReilly) and the late William Thomas McKnight and is the oldest of eight siblings. He was ordained a priest for the Wichita Diocese in 1994.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from the University of Dallas, Master of Arts and Master of Theology degrees from the Pontifical College Josephinun in Columbus, Ohio, and licentiate and doctoral degrees in theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm, in Rome.
Father McKnight taught graduate studies at the Josephinum, 2003-2008, where he also served as Director of Liturgy, Dean of Students, Director of Formation in the school of theology and Vice-president for Development and Alumni Relations. He currently serves on the faculty of the St. Meinrad Permanent Deacon Formation Program.
He served as chaplain at Newman University in Wichita, 2000-2001, where at the same time he was an adjunct professor of theology and visiting scholar at the university's Bishop Gerber Institute of Catholic Studies.
Father McKnight has been published in the Deacon Reader and the Newman Review and has spoken at assemblies of the National Association of Deacon Directors, National Diaconate Institute for Continuing Education as well as at arch/diocesan programs in Wichita; Wheeling, West Virginia; Lafayette-in-Indiana; Houston; Ogdensburg, New York; Phoenix; Denver; Charleston, South Carolina; and Dodge City, Kansas.
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