Formation Team

Very Rev. Jonathan Kelly, M. Div. | Rector
Fr. Jonathan Kelly is a priest of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and a member of the priestly fraternity, the Companions of Christ. Ordained in 2011, he was the associate pastor at All Saints in Lakeville, Minnesota until 2014. Since then he has been a formator and spiritual director at the Saint John Vianney College Seminary and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas. He is also a spiritual director and adjunct faculty for the Institute for Priestly Formation in Omaha, Nebraska. In January 2021, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda appointed him to be the ninth Rector of SJV. Fr. Kelly serves as the President of the National Association of College Seminaries.

Rev. Jim Olofson, M. Div., S.T.L. | Vice-Rector
Fr. Jim Olofson is a priest of the Diocese of Joliet in Illinois and began his seminary formation here at St. John Vianney in 2010. After SJV, he attended Mundelein Seminary and was ordained a priest in 2018. He served at St. Dominic in Bolingbrook and St. John the Baptist in Winfield, where he regularly worked with the Hispanic community and in the parish schools. In 2021, he was sent to Rome to complete a Licentiate Degree in Spiritual Theology at the Angelicum. In 2022, while studying, Fr. Olofson began to work with the SJV seminarians during their semester abroad in Rome at the Irish College.

Rev. Paul Gitter, M. Div., M.A. in Theology | Director of Spiritual Formation
Fr. Paul Gitter, the longest-serving priest currently on the formation staff at Saint John Vianney, is the Director of Spiritual Formation, a role he took up in 2019. Prior to that, he served for two years as the director of the SJV Rome Study Abroad Program, following a ten-year period as a full-time formator and 10 years of part-time ministry to the seminary before that. Father Gitter was ordained in July 1993 after completing his theological studies and priestly formation at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake (Mundelein Seminary) in Chicago, after which he served in parish ministry before his transfer to full-time work at SJV.

Rev. Jeff Norfolk, M. Div. | Spiritual Director & Formation Advisor
Fr. Jeff Norfolk was born and raised in Mitchell, South Dakota. He completed his seminary studies at Franciscan University in Steubenville and St. John Vianney in Denver. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Sioux Falls on May 29, 2009, at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Sioux Falls. Fr. Norfolk spent 4 years as an associate pastor as well as chaplaincy work at Northern State University, The University of South Dakota, Avera Hospitals, and South Dakota prisons and jails. He most recently served as the assistant at St. Joseph Cathedral in Sioux Falls.

Rev. Clayton Forner, M. Div., S.T.L. | Spiritual Director & Formation Advisor
Fr. Clayton Forner is a priest for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Ordained in 2020, he served briefly at St. Joseph's in West St. Paul before completing his license in Spiritual Theology at the Gregorian University. Upon returning to the Archdiocese, he moved into Spanish-speaking ministry and served for a year at St. Stephen's and Holy Rosary in Minneapolis and spent two years at Divine Mercy and St. Michael's in Kenyon. A 2016 alumnus of Saint John Vianney, Fr. Clayton delights in serving at SJV as a formator and spiritual director.

Rev. Scott Nolan, M. Div. | Spiritual Director & Formation Advisor
Fr. Scott Nolan was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Grand Rapids in 2013. He completed his studies at Saint John Vianney in 2009 before continuing formation at Mundelein Seminary. After ordination, Fr. Nolan served for three years as an associate pastor at the Basilica of St. Adalbert and St. Mary Parishes in Grand Rapids. At the same time, he was also the chaplain at West Catholic High School. Fr. Nolan then became the pastor of St. Stephen Parish in East Grand Rapids, where he served for eight years prior to his 2024 appointment to the SJV formation staff.

Dr. Christopher Burke, PhD, LP | Director of Counseling Services & Assistant Human Formation Coordinator
Dr. Christopher Burke joined the SJV team in 2023 to help implement the Propaedeutic Stage program for new seminarians. Following 8 years in the Navy (Naval Flight Officer, P-3 Orion), he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in clinical psychology and was a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins. After marrying his wife Sara and moving to St. Paul, Chris developed a private practice working with Catholic families, priests and seminarians, and found it excellent preparation for being on the formation staff at SJV. Sara and Chris live close by in St. Paul and are proud members of the Nativity of Our Lord Parish. Their dog Toby, a 10-pound Cavapoo (King Charles Cavalier and poodle), is often playing with the men in the lobby, and they hope to train him to be a service dog for the SJV community!

Rev. Bryce Evans, M. Div. | Adjunct Spiritual Director
Fr. Bryce Evans was born and raised in Corcoran, Minnesota. Three years discerning religious life and studies at Marquette University, Mundelein Seminary, and The Saint Paul Seminary led to his ordination for the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis in 2017. Fr. Evans is currently serving as adjunct spiritual director at SJV, co-pastor of St. Mary's in St. Paul, adjunct instructor of theology at the University of St. Thomas and The Saint Paul Seminary, and writing his dissertation for a Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the University of St. Mary-by-the-Lake in Mundelein, Illinois.

Sr. Fabiola, PES & Sr. Emy, PES | Sisters of Pro Ecclesia Sancta
Sister Emy and Sister Fabiola will be at SJV once a week to teach a religious education practicum to second-year men and offer all of us a beautiful witness to consecrated life and their spirituality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pro Ecclesia Sancta “For the Holy Church” is an ecclesial family of consecrated life whose priests, brothers, and sisters are dedicated to living and promoting the universal call to holiness in the Church.

Rev. Colin Jones, M. Div., S.T.L. | Rome Formation Assistant
Fr. Colin Jones was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis in 2018. He completed his studies at Saint John Vianney in 2014 before continuing formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. An SJV formation advisor and spiritual director since 2021, Fr. Jones now serves as formation assistant for SJV seminarians studying abroad in Rome during his doctoral studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

Rev. Msgr. Aloysius Callaghan, S.T.L., J.C.D. | Rome Spiritual Director
Msgr. Callaghan was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1971. He completed his studies at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, the Pontifical Roman Seminary, and the Lateran University in Rome. Rector and Vice President Emeritus of The Saint Paul Seminary, Msgr. Callaghan has served as priest formator for the SJV seminarians living in Rome at the Pontifical Irish College since 2019 and Rome Spiritual Director since 2024.