Father Michael Sciumbato is reassigned to Saint Ann Parish

Intermountain Catholic

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Father Michael Sciumbato

SALT LAKE CITY — Father Michael Sciumbato’s new assignment to Saint Ann Parish is a homecoming.

"I was baptized there, made my First Communion there, was confirmed there and celebrated my first Mass there," he said. "It’s really a joy and an honor for me to go back."

Fr. Sciumbato was born in Salt Lake City. He graduated from South High School in 1974, and received both his undergraduate degree and his law degree from the University of Utah.

"I practiced law for eight years, but all that time, and even as a child, I knew God had a call for me," Fr. Sciumbato said. "I used to love to go to activities at St. Ann and my family was always there working the carnivals and spaghetti dinners. I was a lector, a cantor and sang in the choir. It seems like my life outside of lawyering was always somehow connected to the Church."

After Fr. Sciumbato’s father passed away in 1985, he felt a responsibility to take care of his mother, but he continued to feel a call to the priesthood. "I kept getting hints along the way," he said. "I prepared a will for a lady from St. Ann, and as she was leaving my office, she took my hand and said ‘Mike, I want to thank you, it was just like talking to the priest.’ And Bishop Weigand would always ask if I was ready."

The Most Rev. William K. Weigand was Bishop of Salt Lake City from 1980 to 1994.

So on a Holy Thursday evening at St. Ann, while singing in the choir he was overcome and spent the night in prayer. "‘God, if you want this to happen, you’ve got to make it happen,’" he prayed. A few weeks later he went to Bishop Weigand’s office with Nora Mancuso, a St. Ann parishioner, as his agent to tell him he wanted to study.

"Bishop Weigand said that was just like it was done in the ancient church," he said. "I really feel my vocation is not just mine, but it’s St. Ann’s as well."

Fr. Sciumbato was ordained a priest in the Cathedral of the Madeleine by Bishop Weigand on June 25, 1994.

In the years since, he has performed marriages for people and also buried some of his friends from St. Ann Parish. Now that he’s returning as pastor, "It’s going to be different than when I left," he said. "But I’ll still remember where I stood in the choir, Msgr. (John) Sullivan and Msgr. (James) Kenny; it kind of makes me sad," he said with tears in his eyes. "I’ll remember my mom and dad, my brother and sister, so many friends and people who were really as close to me as family. I just loved growing up there."

Fr. Sciumbato’s new assignment will be effective Aug. 3. He has been at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish since 2008, where he has also been doing immigration work.

"That’s part of my vocation," he said. "When I was in the seminary at Mount Angel, I wrote a paper about the demographics of our diocese and also spoke with Msgr. Fitzgerald (then vicar general), who said our Hispanic population is underserved. So I made a commitment to God at that time to do my best to be of service."

His first priestly assignment was at Saint Elizabeth in Richfield and Saint Jude Mission in Ephraim, both primarily Hispanic.

"Holy Cross Sister Jacinta Milan had done a lot of petitions for people to immigrate, which needed further processing," he said. "I educated myself in immigration law and it took off from there. Every where I’ve gone, that’s been a part of my ministry. It will be interesting to see what God has in store for me at St. Ann and Kearns-Saint Ann School."