Formation

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, S.T.L., M. Div. | 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.

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Rev. Sam Gilbertson, M. Div. | Spiritual Director & Formation Advisor

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. Clayton Forner, S.T.L., M. Div. | 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.

Rev. Cyril Whitaker, SJ | Spiritual Director

Fr. Cyril W. Whitaker, SJ, is a priest of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Before entering the Society in 1999, he taught for twenty-two years in Catholic elementary and high schools in Cincinnati. In 2000, he entered the novitiate of the Chicago Province of the Society in Berkley, Michigan, and professed perpetual vows two years later. He studied at and graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, Loyola University in Chicago, and Boston College, earning degrees in classics, philosophy, and theology. He was ordained in 2009 and professed final vows in the Society in 2022. Before coming to SJV, he taught at Xavier University and served as parochial vicar at St. Francis Xavier Church, made tertianship in Portland, Oregon, and served as a spiritual director and Greek teacher at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.

Rev. Dan Westermann, S.T.L., M. Div. | Spiritual Director & Formation Advisor

Fr. Dan Westermann is a priest of the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan. He was ordained in 2014 after attending SJV and the North American College in Rome. After ordination, he served in various parishes across the Diocese of Lansing in addition to finishing a licentiate in Moral Theology. Most recently, he served as the pastor of St. John the Baptist in Ypsilanti, which serves Eastern Michigan University. In 2025, he was appointed 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.

Sr. Emy, PES | Religious Sister 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.

Sr. Fabiola, PES | Religious Sister of Pro Ecclesia Sancta

Jacob Hornecker | Intellectual Dimension Coordinator

jhornecker@sjvseminary.org

Jacob Hornecker began assisting with SJV academic scheduling and communications in 2024 and now provides advising support for SJV seminarians and their sending dioceses, complementing the University of St. Thomas advising system. Jacob coordinates the formation activities that carry academic credit and ensures seminarians complete the Program for Priestly Formation requirements. He is pursuing his PhD at the University of Minnesota. Before entering the field of education and academia, Jacob spent six years in seminary, including four at SJV, from which he graduated in 2018. He and his wife have two children.

ROME PROGRAM

Rev. Colin Jones, S.T.L., M. Div. | 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, J.C.D., S.T.L. | 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.