The Diocese of Phoenix has appointed a new vocations director.
Fr. Will Schmid, who has overseen the spirituality year for the diocese’s Nazareth Seminary since December 2022, will now lead the Office of Vocations. Fr. Schmid, who also has served for the past two years as coordinator of Ongoing Formation of Priests, assumed his new role July 1.
He succeeds Fr. Kurt Perera, who has served since 2022.
Fr. Perera will become vice rector of Nazareth Seminary, the diocese’s local seminary. He will assist Rector Fr. Paul Sullivan in governance and administration as well as advising on policy.
Ordained in 2009, Fr. Schmid has served as chaplain for Seton Catholic Preparatory in Chandler, Ariz., parochial administrator at St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Gilbert, Ariz., and pastor at San Francisco de Asis Parish in Flagstaff, Ariz
The Vocations Office nurtures and guides individuals who feel a calling toward the priesthood. It works to inspire, discern and support their spiritual journeys through personal interaction and resources and it assesses applicants.
It also works hand-in-hand with Nazareth Seminary in the process of priestly formation.
A total of 54 seminarians are working their way toward the priesthood, a record number for the diocese of more than 2 million Catholics, one of nation’s fastest growing.
“We’re very excited, thrilled and humbled,” Fr. Schmid said. “It’s so beautiful to be able to talk to young men about the joy of priestly life and what the Lord has done for us. It’s a great joy in my heart to share with them just the goodness of the Lord.”
“It’s really not so much what we have done but what the Lord has done.”
While he believes that no single factor is driving the increase in seminarians, Fr. Schmid noted the growing number of younger potential candidates, some as early as their junior or senior year in high school.
Fr. Perera has participated in discernment groups, where participants can ask questions and discuss their interests, and he has regularly visited high school campuses for some of these exchanges.
“We’ve seen tremendous growth,” Fr. Perera said, “in terms of the number of men responding but also in their backgrounds. There also has been a resurgence among young people. It’s been fantastic.”
The uptick mirrors a national trend, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), in its 2025 USCCB report on ordinations, said that the 405 men ordained across the nation this year on average began considering the priesthood at age 16.
There also is the question of whether the Church’s first pope from the United States will spur interest in the priesthood among American men.
With its steady growth, the Diocese of Phoenix remains one of the nation’s most diverse. Fr. Perera said the current group of seminarians reflects that.
“The men being called reflect the communities here. The diversity, the different backgrounds has been really, really good,” he observed.
Fr. Schmid’s arrival comes as the diocese continues its historic transition to a full local seminary.
Arizonans wanting to become priests have had to travel out of state, with most recent seminarians from the Diocese of Phoenix attending St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver. Others have gone to Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas.
In 2019, then-Bishop Thomas Olmsted began the transition to local theological education and training by establishing Nazareth House (now renamed St. Gregory House), a two-year, college-level house of formation for men. From there, the seminarians would head to Denver.
Bishop John Dolan, following his 2022 installation, continued the work.
The diocese opened its second formation house, Our Lady of Perpetual Help House, in 2023 on the campus of OLPH Parish in Scottsdale for men in their third year or Spirituality Year of seminary. That was followed a year later by the opening of St. Mary’s House at St. Mary’s Basilica in downtown Phoenix for men in their Philosophy Year. The fourth and final house, St. Agnes House, is expected to open in Fall 2026 for men in their Theology Year.
With all four formation houses operating, the diocese will satisfy the requirements of the USCCB’s “Program For Priestly Formation.” The program is a guide for seminaries and priestly vocation programs in the United States. It was most recently updated in August 2022 and is in line with the Holy See’s 2016 document, Ratio Fundamentalis Institutiones Sacerdotalis issued by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy.
More than half the men in formation reside locally. The remainder are completing their studies at St. John Vianney Seminary and Assumption Seminary.
By 2030, the Diocese will ordain its first group of priests to have completed all their years of seminary locally.
“I’m grateful to God for what He’s doing,” Fr. Perera said. “We have been praying that God would give us many more in vocations.”
“A man never chooses by himself to become a priest. He’s always responding to the call of God,”
But with literally a world of potential career paths beckoning today, it is vital that a man be surrounded in prayer and have the resources of those now serving God on the altar.
Continuing a practice started by Fr. Perera, Fr. Schmid wants to further connections between the Vocations Office and the diocese’s Newman Centers and universities as well as tap into ties with high school chaplains.
“We know this is the future,” Fr. Schmid said. “We want to do what the Lord asks and do it well.”
He encouraged laity, including family, parishioners and the faithful in general to pray earnestly for God’s guidance in a man’s heart.
“The Lord tells us that we should pray that God sends more workers into His vineyard,” he said, adding that one’s prayers should be “specific and intentional.”
“Notice the young men in your parish,” he suggested. “Pray that God might choose one of them. It’s a vulnerable but beautiful prayer, and I think one the Lord loves to answer.”
