PORTLAND — Catholic Bishop Robert P. Deeley has assigned The Rev. Steven G. Cartwright to serve as parochial vicar at Prince of Peace Parish effective July 1, according to a news release from the Catholic Diocese of Portland.
Lewiston’s Prince of Peace Parish has three churches, the downtown Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Holy Cross Church on Lisbon Street and Holy Family Church on Sabattus Street.
Cartwright was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Deeley on June 13 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland.
A Boothbay Harbor native, Cartwright graduated from John Bapst Memorial High School before attending St. John’s University in Jamaica, N.Y. (1997-1998), and St. Bonaventure University in Olean, N.Y. (1998-1999), majoring in philosophy while minoring in theology.
In 1999, he was accepted as a seminarian by the Diocese of Portland and entered the Basselin Scholars Program at Theological College at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in 2001, but decided to leave and coach college swimming.
After an accomplished collegiate swimming career and years as an assistant coach, Cartwright was named the head coach at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. A Division I coaching job and the chance to give back to a sport that had given him so much, he thought his dream career had come true.
But, “there was something missing,” said Cartwright in a prepared statement. “I thought that there was something more that the Lord wanted me to do. If we are honest in prayer, the Lord will guide us along the way.”
In 2010, he resigned as head coach and resumed priestly formation for the Diocese of Raleigh, N.C. In 2012, he transferred to the Diocese of Portland and continued his studies at Pope Saint John XXIII Seminary (formerly Blessed John XXIII) in Weston, Mass., where he earned a master’s degree in divinity in May.
To read more about Cartwright’s ordination, or to view pictures from the Mass, visit www.portlanddiocese.org/father-cartwright-ordination.
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