Although this is his first year as President at Bishop McGuinness, Father Rick Stansberry has touched so many lives in this community. He continues to spread the message of being a person for others by being involved in this community and working with people to help those in need.
“When the search committee was looking, they were looking outside of the area and they realized that if you bring someone from the outside that doesn’t know the community, they’re going to spend five to 10 years learning the community,” Stansberry said.
Stansberry grew up Episcopalian, but became Catholic at 16 after being involved in religion club, a service club, and youth group. He attended 4th through 12th grade at Casady from 1970 to 1979, continued his education at Southern Methodist University where he pursued an accounting degree, then earned his master’s degree in accounting at Oklahoma City University.
After three years of working as a Certified Public Accountant, Stansberry still felt his childhood calling from God. Following college, he responded to his priestly vocation by enrolling in St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana, where he graduated with distinction with a master’s degree in divinity and religious studies. He was ordained in 1992 and worked at St. Charles shortly after, he was drawn back to education, so he pursued a Licentiate of Canon Law at Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome.
“I guess that’s essentially why someone becomes a priest, they feel called by God,” Stansberry said. “But like most guys, I wanted to be married and have a family, so that was kind of a tough decision. I think it was definitely a calling from God and something I’ve always been interested in, and, you know, 33 years later and I’ve never regretted it.”
After serving at Christ the King Catholic Church from 2007 to 2021, he became a pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. He was offered a position at McGuinness as president following the retirement of David Morton.
“He’s been fantastic to work with and provided a lot of great advice about issues to do with Catholic education,” Principal Andrew Worthington said. “His commitment to Catholic education, and his belief in the potential of all students is really refreshing to see as a principal.”
Stansberry has been involved in many different communities throughout his life. He’s been a part of the High School Board at McGuinness, the Catholic Charities Board, the Rother Board, the Shrine Board, the Priests Council and the Parish Council at Our Lady’s of Perpetual Help. He baptizes around 100 people a year and is the celebrant at many marriages.
“Father Rick is a pillar of the community,” assistant principal Tim McFadden said. “He’s been such a large part in so many people’s lives, whether you went to church with him, heard about him, or went to school at his school. He baptized like half the people here or did a sacrament he taught my wife how to be an altar server, and then he married my wife and I. It’s a pretty phenomenal thing to have him here at McGuinness to serve the community.”
As school president of Bishop McGuinness and the current priest at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help at Bishop John Carroll Catholic School, Stansberry has his hands full. Junior Brandon Mai has been an altar server with Father Rick for about five years.
“It’s really surprising having Father Rick as the president of Bishop McGuinness,” Mai said. “I like how he’s been participating as a pastor at many schools.”
