PASTOR & RECTOR — Father Bryan W. Jerabek, J.C.L.

Father Jerabek became Pastor & Rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul on July 1, 2016 and also currently serves as Chaplain for Birmingham-area university students, Chancellor of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama, Judicial Vicar of the Diocese, and a Missionary of Mercy of His Holiness, Pope Francis.

He originally comes from Portsmouth, New Hampshire and first moved to Birmingham in 1999 to work at a local bank. While in Birmingham he began to discern a call to the priesthood. After leaving the workforce to complete university studies, he was accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Birmingham by Bishop David E. Foley, D.D., attending Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Bishop Foley ordained him a transitional deacon on March 3, 2007 at Immaculate Conception Church of Corpus Christi Parish in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

On June 7, 2008 he was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of St. Paul by Bishop Robert J. Baker, S.T.D. Father Jerabek’s first assignment was at Holy Spirit Parish in Huntsville, Alabama, where he was Parochial Vicar, with particular responsibility for the parish’s large Hispanic community. During his first year he also covered English and Spanish Masses once a month at Our Lady of the Valley in Fort Payne, which at that time did not have its own pastor. He was also assigned as a Teacher, Associate Chaplain, and then Chaplain of the then-Catholic High School (now St. John Paul II Catholic High School) in Huntsville. While at JP2, Father was involved with the transition to its new campus; particularly, with the construction and design of its chapel.

After three years in Huntsville, Bishop Baker sent Father Jerabek to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (“Santa Croce”). Father completed his degree (ecclesiastical licentiate) in the Summer of 2014 and returned to be Administrator, later Pastor, of St. Barnabas and Holy Rosary parishes in Birmingham, with care also for the Hispanic community at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.

In February 2016 Father Jerabek was named Chancellor of the Diocese of Birmingham, a position he continues to hold.

Bishop Robert J. Baker tasked Father with being Chairman of the recent Diocesan Eucharistic Congress, June 28-29, 2019, as well as with the Installation of the new Bishop, the Most Reverend Steven J. Raica, June 22-23, 2020.

Father Jerabek was named a Missionary of Mercy of His Holiness, Pope Francis in late 2020, a position he continues to hold. In this capacity, he has a special mandate from the Holy Father to hear confessions and preach on mercy; moreover, he has the faculty to hear confessions anywhere in the world and to remit the censures associated with certain ecclesiastical crimes that are otherwise normally reserved to the Holy See. 

On July 1, 2021, Bishop Steven J. Raica appointed Father Jerabek as Judicial Vicar of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama. The Judicial Vicar acts in the Bishop’s name to serve the ministry of justice in the diocese – principally, in the area of the Marriage Tribunal, but in other judicial processes as well, as determined by Canon Law.

On July 6, 2021, Father Jerabek was named Chaplain for Birmingham-area university students by Bishop Steven J. Raica. Chaplaincy activities take place at both the Cathedral of St. Paul and St. Stephen’s Chapel.

Father is a Knight Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He is also a Fourth-Degree Knight of Columbus. He enjoys traveling, sacred art and music, and visiting with his nieces and nephews. He speaks English, Spanish, and Italian. He may be contacted at fatherjerabek@stpaulsbhm.org.

PAROCHIAL VICAR (ASSOCIATE PASTOR) — Father J. Michael Adams

Father Adams was born in Tampa, Florida, and received his first Holy Communion and Confirmation at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School, where he attended grades 1-6 before moving across Tampa Bay to the city of Largo. He graduated from Largo High School in 1972.

Under the influence of Our Lady, Father Adams began to feel a keen attraction to the priesthood as a young man, while taking premedical courses at St. Petersburg Junior College in the Pinellas County area where he grew up. After much prayer and counsel, he decided to forego his secular studies to prepare for the priesthood. A special opportunity opened for him to go to Italy to pursue his seminary and ecclesiastical studies for the priesthood. He studied both philosophy and theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome, Italy and was ordained a priest in Civitavecchia, Italy, by Bishop Girolamo Grillo on May 25, 1985.

He had numerous blessings from his parochial and diocesan assignments over the years in Italy, far too many to list. His last one took place in the Diocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie where he was assistant rector to Our Lady of Grace Sanctuary in Corato (Bari), the Diocesan Retreat Center. 

With the desire to transfer from Southern Italy to the Birmingham Diocese, on Ash Wednesday 2009, he began the transfer process with his first assignment at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Hoover. The process of changing dioceses can take many years to complete, and must include parochial assignments in at least two parishes. His second assignment was at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Homewood.

On May 24, 2012, Father Adams was incardinated as a priest of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama.

In July of 2012, he began his third assignment as Administrator of St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic Chapel, and was Campus Minister of UAB, Samford University, and Birmingham-Southern College. He was then transferred to his fourth assignment in November 2014 as the Pastor of Our Lady of the Shoals Catholic Church in Tuscumbia, Alabama. On February 18, 2022, he was transferred to the Cathedral of St. Paul in Birmingham to serve as Parochial Vicar (Associate Pastor). Father Adams speaks English, Italian, and Spanish, and may be contacted at fatheradams@stpaulsbhm.org.