Father Jonathan Kelly has been named the ninth rector of St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, Archbishop Bernard Hebda announced Jan. 22. Father Kelly, 47, has served as a formator and spiritual director at SJV since 2014.

He succeeds Father Michael Becker, who concludes a 10-year term at the end of the academic year. Founded in 1968 and located at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, SJV currently has in formation 105 undergraduate seminarians from 18 dioceses across the U.S.

“Father Kelly has excelled in each of his assignments,” said Archbishop Hebda in a Jan. 22 statement. “The search committee recognized his generous priestly heart, keen intellect and relevant experience. It is obvious that he is joyful in his priesthood and will provide an excellent example for the young men discerning their call at the college seminary. I am grateful for his willingness to accept this important ministry in the Church.”

Ordained a priest in 2011 for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Father Kelly ministered as parochial vicar of All Saints parish and school in Lakeville until his assignment at SJV. He has earned a certificate in spiritual direction at the Institute for Priestly Formation in Omaha, Nebraska, where he has also served as a formator and an adjunct faculty member during its summer programs for priests and seminarians. He also has a certificate in seminary formation from the Seminary Formation Council in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Father Kelly has served as an adjunct faculty member in St. Thomas’ theology department and regularly directs retreats for priests and seminarians, laypeople and religious sisters. He also has led multiple groups of seminarians on mission trips to the Motherhouse of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India.

Father Kelly is a native of southern Minnesota. After graduating high school at Georgetown Preparatory School in Washington, D.C., where he has family in the area, he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. He also competed on the U’s Division I men’s golf team, and after graduation, he briefly played on the professional tour in South Africa and Canada. He then worked as an investment banking analyst at Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis and then worked with MidMark Capitol in New Jersey. He entered The St. Paul Seminary in 2005.

In a 2011 interview with The Catholic Spirit prior to his ordination, Father Kelly credited Father Becker with helping him discover his vocation to the priesthood. He was 30 years old when he met the priest, who was then pastor of St. Michael in St. Michael, on a five-day retreat with his brother in 2004. Kelly was living on the east coast at the time, but quit his job in spring 2005 and moved back to Minnesota. Father Becker invited him to live at the St. Michael rectory, along with four other men who were discerning, for the summer.

“I was drawn by the life immediately,” Father Kelly said in that interview. “So, I applied to the seminary for fall 2005.”

Ordained in 1999, Father Becker became SJV rector in 2010. For the past two years, Father Kelly and Father Becker have worked together with SJV’s institutional advancement team to fundraise for programing needs and recent infrastructure renovations, according to the Jan. 22 statement.

“Father Kelly is a man of prayer and great virtue,” Father Becker said in the statement. “He will remain attentive to the transformational needs of every seminarian as a true spiritual father and leader in the Church.”

Father Kelly is a member of the Companions of Christ, a fraternity of priests and seminarians in the archdiocese.

“I am grateful to Archbishop Hebda for this opportunity and his support,” Father Kelly said in the statement. “I am also indebted to Father Becker and previous rectors who have built such a strong culture of charity and generosity at SJV. The work is incredibly fulfilling for me and I am excited, with God’s help, to continue to prepare our men to discern God’s call for their lives and to become missionary disciples who can make the Gospel of Jesus Christ attractive and relevant to those they will serve.”