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Two new pastors named

Catholic Herald Staff Report

The following are brief biographies of new pastors appointed
by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde last week.

Father Michael C. Kelly, newly appointed pastor of St.
Francis de Sales Parish in Purcellville, was born Dec. 15,
1955, in Newport Beach, Calif., one of three sons in a
military family. Father Kelly’s family settled in Alexandria
where he graduated from Mount Vernon High School.

After serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1973-81, he
attended Mary Washington College (now the University of Mary
Washington) in Fredericksburg, where he earned a bachelor’s
in history in 1984.

He graduated from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood,
Pa., and was ordained by former Arlington Bishop John R.
Keating May 20, 1995. His diaconate assignment was at Our
Lady of Angels Parish in Woodbridge. He also served as a
deacon at Holy Spirit Parish in Sharon Hill, Pa.

Father Kelly served as parochial vicar of St. James Parish,
Falls Church, 1995-98; St. Ambrose Parish, Annandale,
1998-2001, and Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Winchester,
2001-06. He has served as administrator of St. Francis de
Sales since 2006.

Father John A. Ziegler, newly appointed pastor of St.
Elizabeth Parish in Colonial Beach and St. Anthony Mission in
King George, was born Jan. 4, 1954, in Detroit to Donald and
Dolores Ziegler. He attended St. Gerard Parish School and the
University of Detroit High School, a Jesuit preparatory
school. He completed undergraduate studies in marketing at
Michigan State University in 1976.

Father Ziegler worked for the Chrysler Corporation for
three-and-a-half years before attending the Cleveland
Marshall School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio, 1979-83.

After working as an assistance district attorney in Dallas
County, Texas, he applied for the priesthood in the Arlington
Diocese.

He attended Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md.,
completed his diaconate assignment at St. Agnes Parish in
Arlington, and was ordained a priest May 18, 1996, by Bishop
Keating.

Father Ziegler served as parochial vicar of St. Lawrence
Parish, Alexandria, 1996-2000; Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish,
2000-01; St. Ambrose Parish, 2001-05, and Our Lady of Angels
Parish, 2005-06.

He has served as administrator of St. Elizabeth and St.
Anthony since 2006.

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