Reverend Daniel S. Pacholec
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Pastorolbsfrdanaol.comRev. Daniel S. Pacholec, Pastor - was born and raised in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He was a member of Mater Dolorosa Parish and educated in its school. He is a graduate of Holyoke Catholic High School and Amherst College where he received his B.A., cum laude, as a double major in Psychology and English. His honors thesis was a comparison of the conversions and autobiographies of Thomas Merton and C.S.Lewis.
After college, Fr. Dan worked for Steiger's Department Stores completing its Management training Program and working in several branch stores at various levels of management. He later was appointed Human Resource Manager for the company's flagship store in downtown Springfield. His last position at Steigers was as Manager of Executive Development, recruiting and training management trainees, and overseeing their career pathing.
At the age of 30, after many years of discernment, Fr. Dan entered religious life in the Conventual Franciscan Order as a postulant. He attended St. Hyacinth College and Seminary in Granby, MA and received his Pre-Theological Certificate in Philosophy from St Hyacinth. After completing a Novitiate, he professed temporary vows and was assigned for his Pastoral Year to teach at a Catholic School in Bessemer, Alabama. Family concerns brough him back closer to home where he discerned his call to Diocesan Priesthood.
Fr. Dan entered Blessed John XXIII National Seminary as a Seminarian for the Diocese of Springfield in the Fall of 1992. He received his Masters of Divinity from the seminary in 1996 and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Springfield on June 1, 1996. His first assignment was a Parocial Vicar at Holy Cross Parish in Springfield from 1996 - 1999. He then moved to St Michael's Parish in East Longmeadow as Parochial Vicar from 1999 - 2001. He was appointed Vocation Director for the Diocese of Springfield on July 1, 2001 and has served in that capacity until his 2004 appointment as Pastor of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish here in Westfield. He is currently serving as the Pro-Life Director for the Diocese of Springfield.
