Pope Francis names new Bishop for Diocese of Savannah, USA

By Vatican News

Pope Francis has named Father Stephen D. Parkes, a priest of the Diocese of Orlando, Florida, as the new Bishop of Savannah Georgia.

Father Parkes has been serving in Orlando as the Dean of Central Deanery North and Pastor of Annunciation Parish in Longwood.

Biography of Father Stephen D. Parkes

Bishop-elect Parkes was born on June 2, 1965 in Mineola, New York, and ordained to the priesthood on May 23, 1998 for the Diocese of Orlando. Father Parkes attended Massapequa High School in New York and received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/Marketing from the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. He studied philosophy and theology at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida, and holds a Master of Divinity.

After ordination, Father Parkes was assigned to Annunciation Church in Longwood as Parochial Vicar where he served until 2005 when he was named Parochial Administrator at Most Precious Blood Church in Oviedo. Additionally, in 2004 he was named Spiritual Director for Catholic Campus Ministry at the University of Central Florida in Orlando where he served until 2011.

Since 2011, Bishop-elect Parkes has served as Pastor at Annunciation Church in Longwood. His ministry also includes serving as Dean of the North Central Deanery (2010-present), and Spiritual Director of the Catholic Foundation of Central Florida (2009-present). He speaks both English and Spanish.

Diocese of Savannah

The Diocese of Savannah is comprised of 37,038 square miles in the U.S. state of Georgia and has a total population of 2,934,000 of which 75,603 are Catholic.

The See has been vacant since March, 2020.