Fr. Paul N. Check was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport, CT in 1997. He holds an STB from the Gregorian University and an STL from the University of the Holy Cross. Fr. Check has taught courses in fundamental moral theology, sexual and medical ethics, Christian anthropology, the Beatitudes, and the Parables. For twelve years, he taught a two-week moral theology course annually to St. Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, and more recently, he has taught regularly for the Augustine Institute, and for FOCUS. He has given several retreats and days of recollection to diocesan clergy, religious, and seminarians.
Fr. Check earned a BA in history and political science from Rice University in 1981, after which he served as an officer in the US Marine Corps for nine years, and prior to entering seminary. He has been a parish priest and a high school chaplain. From 2008-2016, Fr Check was the Executive Director of Courage International, presenting to clergy in many dioceses the Church’s teaching on homosexuality and her pastoral response. Fr. Check was then assigned as the Rector of the St John Fisher Seminary in the Diocese of Bridgeport for four years, during which time he also served as director of ongoing priestly formation. On August 15, 2020 and with the permission of his Bishop, he was appointed the Executive Director of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, WI, by His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, and Shrine’s Board of Directors.