Meet Your Neighbor: 'Father Jeff' focused on faith and fitness in two parishes

Celibate and obedient.

Those two vows are required for diocesan priests, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Exercise and fun are not formal vows, but a local priest makes sure he does both in his free time.

Meet your neighbor, the Rev. Jeffery James Smith, pastor at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Shelby and Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Crestline.

Smith, a Tiffin native, has served for 3½ years at both parishes.

“This is my first time as a pastor and superintendent of schools,” said Father Jeff, as he’s known to parishioners and students at Sacred Heart and Saint Joseph.

He points out the roles of a priest are multifaceted. “If I were to ever lose my Google calendar, I’d be in big trouble,” he said.

Especially right before the Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday.

Making the most of Lent

The 40 days of Lent help people “grow closer to Jesus, to grow closer to God,” Smith said. For some people, that might mean an extra prayer; for others, “it means cutting something out of my life that might make a barrier between Jesus and myself," he said.

Doing something dramatic might not work for you. Keep it simple. “Focus on one thing. Try to accomplish that one thing by the end of Lent," he said.

Smith said increasing your visits to church one day a week might be fruitful, for example, or maybe “giving up an app one day out of the week that's not helping you be the best version of yourself.”

Pickup games at St. Joe’s Convocation Center

Do you need to unwind or miss your basketball playing days? Join an open gym with Smith and others from the church on Thursday nights from 8:30 until 10:30. If you’ve got limited skills, no worries. He said ages range from about 30 to 60-years-old, but all are invited.

“Not too competitive; just running, get some exercise and shootin’ hoops,” Smith said.

If shooting the ball isn’t your thing, the walking track is available. Smith noted sometimes the Convo Center, as it’s often called, is booked with another parish event, so they may meet at Sacred Heart for basketball. Reach out to him by email for updates at jsmith@toledodiocese.org.

A folksy priest, Smith feels right at home among the rural and city parishioners.

“I really enjoy being in the Richland County-Crawford County area. It reminds me a lot of where I grew up in the Tiffin area," he said. "It’s got a good rural sense to it, a good farming community. It’s also got a nice city element to it. I like to go shopping in Ontario. I like to golf every once in a while in the Ontario and Mansfield area."

Readers can suggest future "Meet Your Neighbor" profiles to correspondent Joe Di Lullo at muckrack.com/dilulloj or jp.dilullo0926@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: How Rev. Jeffery James Smith ministers Shelby, Crestline OH parishes