It did not take long for Fr. Jim Simko to get into the spirit of St. John the Evangelist as he mesmerized the Vacation Bible School children when he gave them a short lesson this past Tuesday. Fr. Jim, age 58, comes to us directly from St. Fra
ncis Xavier parish in Fort Myers, where he served the parish from 2009.
Born in Springfield, IL, Fr. Jim is one of four siblings. He has a brother who resides in Atlanta, a sister in Mobile, AL and another sister in Brisbane, Australia.
Fr. Jim and his family moved to Bradenton, FL in 1971, when he was just 16 years old. “I was a parishioner at St. Joseph’s in Bradenton where Fr. Rourke served as pastor in 1974.” The two reminisced over a Staff Welcome Lunch Tuesday, June 11, here at St. John.
After graduating from Metropolitan State College in Denver in 1976 with a degree in Business Management, Fr. Jim worked in various retail and restaurant venues until 1985 when he entered the seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1991 for the Archdiocese of Denver. He served in parishes in the Denver area and was the pastor at Our Lady of the Mountains in Estes Park, CO from 1996 to 2002. A year later Fr. Jim returned to Southwest Florida.
Fr. Jim says he enjoys traveling and “everything Florida has to offer as well as my Terrier-Schnauzer.”
Welcome, Fr. Jim, to St. John the Evangelist.