Stephen was born the 7th of 11 siblings in the small farming community of Chandler, Arizona, one of 9 boys and 2 girls. Raised by devout parents in a faithful Catholic family, he spent 12 years in Catholic schools. Stephen was Freshman Class President and Student Body President at Seton Catholic Preparatory High School. He took time off after graduation to ‘cowboy up’ on the Haltercross cattle ranch on the Mogollon Rim near Heber, Arizona.
Stephen majored in Journalism for a year at Northern Arizona University and then two years at Mesa Community College, where he was co-editor of the MCC Legend and the Bullsheet. Understanding college life was not for him, Stephen enlisted in US Army Signal Intelligence as a Morse Code Interceptor with a TSSI clearance, graduated early with honor from Intelligence school at Ft. Devins, MA, and served 3 1/2 years at Field Station Augsburg in Bavaria, Germany, honorably discharged as Sergeant E-5 in 1985.
Stephen began a nearly 25-year journey as a lay missionary (in Miles Jesu) for the Catholic Church in Dioceses around the world. As part of a youth leadership team, Stephen conducted youth retreats and week-long missions (Orientation Week) in the US for young men teens to twenties from 1986-89. He was also involved in the formation of married couples and their families in the practical daily application of the spirituality of the lay apostolate in the family and the workplace. He co-edited the Faith Family Handbook with Andy Sullivan to use in the Catholic formation of the laity.
After two missions to India (1989-90) Stephen was sent to Soviet Ukraine in 1990. To that end, Pope St John Paul II officially designated him as a bi-ritual Catholic (Roman and Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Rite) at the request of Ukrainian Archbishop Volodymyr Sterniuk who was Head (locum tenens) of the Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church, centered at the time in L’viv, Ukraine. They were still suffering under the authoritarian fist of the Soviet Union and Mikhail Gorbachev. (1990) Stephen was present during the August 1991 Coup d’etat’ from start to finish. That event is erroneously referred to as the ‘collapse of the Soviet Union’. It was a temporary but necessary downsizing, as explained to Stephen by top Soviet officials in western Ukraine at the time. Stephen and Thomas Creen MJ remained with Cardinal Myroslav Ivan Lubachyvski, Archbishop Sterniuk and their closest aides during the coup to face whatever might befall the newly resurrected Ukrainian Catholic Church from a possible Soviet crackdown. Among those trusted aides was Fr Kenneth Nowakowski, now Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of London, England.
When Ukrainian independence was finally declared, Stephen was named the first Director of Youth Activities for the Archeparchy of L’viv since the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church was dissolved by the Soviet Communists during the Communist Party controlled “L’viv Synod” in 1946. Stephen and Tom taught English to the first group of about 250 Ukrainian seminarians, all in one classroom, at the Major seminary in Rudno. The Communist Mayor and village Council turned off all heat and water to the seminary buildings during an extremely bitter winter, so there were no hot showers, and all kitchenware had to be washed in metal drums outside over a fire. The seminarians were truly mindful of Stephen and Tom throughout that incredibly difficult time.
While in Ukraine (1990-1997) Stephen co-founded and was Master of Ceremonies for spiritual youth concerts attended by tens of thousands (both young and old) over the course of that time, culminating in a 5-hour long concert for over 50,000 faithful at the ancient Marian spiritual shrine of Zarvanitsya.
Stephen was named Regional Director for the men’s and women’s communities in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic. He obtained the Polish palace which was in ruins and helped established what is now a beautiful orphanage in the village of Bortnyky, Ukraine. Stephen also obtained the 500-yr. old monastery and church in L’viv, Ukraine, now known as The Church of St Josaphat and all Ukrainian Catholic Martyrs. He was instrumental in obtaining a large portion of the moneys to restore and renovate both properties, giving a big shout out to Aid to the Church in Need of Germany and old family friends fr0m his Chandler farming community.
In 1997 Stephen was assigned to London, England (1997-2005) where he co-founded the Continuity Movement in the British Isles and the monthly Continuity Journal with former Anglican Bishop of London, Mgr. Graham Leonard, KCVO. Bishop Leonard is the highest-ranking Anglican Bishop to enter the Catholic Church since the time of King Henry VIII and the Reformation. Stephen co-authored ‘A Man to Move Hearts – A Life of Paul Murphy, MJ’ with renowned English author Joanna Bogle. For that book and the Continuity Journal that he edited and wrote for, he was named an honorary member of The Catholic Writers Guild for England and Wales. He also edited a major prayer book in four languages (English, Spanish, Ukrainian, Latin) and co-edited Isabel, a bi-lingual Catholic magazine in Spanish and English.
As Master of Ceremonies and VIP liaison for the annual International Path To Rome conferences (PTR 1996-2005), Stephen developed great friendships with members of British Parliament in Rt. Hon. Lord Deben (John Gummer) MP who was also Minister of Agriculture for Prime Minister John Major, as well as Rt Hon Anne Widdecombe and Lord David Alton; presidential administrations in Adm. John and Linda Poindexter. The Admiral was National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan; of the nobility in dear friends Lord Nicholas Windsor and wife Princess Paola du Francopan Windsor, and very dear friends in HIRH Archduchess Alexandra von Hapsburg and husband H.E. Hector Riesle, former Ambassador to he Holy See for Chile. Stephen had the honor of meeting Alexandra’s father Grand-duke Rudolph, youngest son of Karl, last Holy Roman Emperor, during the Path to Rome conference in Vienna, Austria (2001).
Stephen has served in various positions around the world. He’s been a retreat leader and spiritual director in many countries in several languages, Director of parish Adult Faith Formation programs, and founder and Regional Director of Catholic Charities, Colorado Springs Diocese. He is fluent in Spanish and Ukrainian, and was well-practiced for many years in Italian, Russian, Polish, Czech and Latin.
He has returned, after many years spent mostly abroad, to a ranch out on the desert in old Sonora in southern Arizona with his wife Barbara, to be near their families. Their parents have passed on but their families continue to grow through nieces and nephews, and the next generations. Stephen works regularly as a cowboy on the historic Horse Ranch (1880’s) feeding and gathering cattle, working the brandings and maintaining things when the rancher is out of town. With wife Barb, they enjoy their dogs, horses, chickens and many other desert critters, the vast open deserts and, in a special way, their beloved Dragoon Mountains!