Father Michael Seifert was ordained a priest of the Youngstown Diocese on June 23, 1984, by Bishop James Malone in St. Columba Cathedral. He retired in 2017, having most recently served as pastor of Holy Family Parish in Brewster/Navarre.Â
A Massillon native, he attended St. Mary School and Tuslaw High School. After graduating from high school, he attended the Ohio Institute of Business, earning an associate’s degree in accounting. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1966, serving in West Berlin as a chaplain’s assistant.
After completing his time in the Army in 1968, he went to The Ohio State University, where he earned a bachelor’s in business administration with a major in accounting. After graduating in 1972, he worked as an insurance adjuster for eight years.
In 1980, he began his priestly studies by entering Mount St. Mary Seminary in Cincinnati—graduating in 1984. His first assignment after ordination was as associate pastor of St. Christine Parish in Youngstown, where he served until 1992, when he was named to his first pastorate, St. James Parish in Waynesburg. In 2004, he was transferred to Regina Coeli Parish in Alliance. Father Seifert was appointed in 2011 to two parishes—St. Therese in Brewster and St. Clement in Navarre. Later that year, the diocese merged the two to form Holy Family Parish—which has one worship site in Brewster and one in Navarre.
Father Seifert retired in 2017. In addition to his pastoral assignments, he served terms on the diocesan Priest’s Personnel Board.
