PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania - The U.S. Province of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans), meeting recently in Provincial General Assembly, has elected Rev. Donald J. McEachin, C.S.Sp., their new Provincial for a term of three years, effective November 15, 2021. He will succeed Rev. Jeffrey T. Duaime, C.S.Sp., who has been Provincial since 2012.

Fr. McEachin was born on July 25, 1953 in Saginaw, Michigan., where he attended Saints Peter and Paul School and graduated from St. Mary Cathedral in 1971. He graduated from Duquesne University with a B.A. in 1975, received a M. Div. degree in 1981 at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois, and received a master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1999. 

He was ordained to the Priesthood in 1981 and worked in the missions of Kilimanjaro for five years. He then returned to Duquesne University and served as director for the pre-novitiate program at Laval House, campus chaplain, and director of campus ministry. He was elected treasurer of the U.S. Eastern Province in 1991, and served as a member of Provincial Council in 1997 until he was elected Provincial of the U.S. Eastern Province in 2000, serving a three-year term. In 2004, Fr. McEachin established a new mission in San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic, and has served there for the past 17 years. 

A community of missionary priests, brothers, and Lay Spiritans dedicated to evangelization, advocacy, education, and justice for people who are oppressed or marginalized, the Congregation of the Holy Spirit was founded in France in 1703. In 2022, the U.S. Province will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first Spiritan Province in the United States. Led by the Spirit where the need is greatest, Spiritans currently serve in parish ministry in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Virginia. The Provincialate is located at 6230 Brush Run Road, Bethel Park, PA 15102.

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