John Giel

Fr. John Giel has built a great deal over his years as a priest, and he never takes the credit for any of it. Under his care a small, struggling parish grew into one of the largest in the county, and his explanation for it was simple. "I'm not going to take the credit," he once said. "God has a lot to do with it." That is the thread that runs through everything, a man who says he thinks less about himself with each passing year, and more about offering himself in service.

Warm, likeable, and easy to be around, Fr. John is the kind of pastor people describe not by his titles or the buildings he raised, but by the way he treated them. He took time with people, remembered the schoolchildren, and made a whole community feel like family. When he left Leesburg after nearly twenty-five years, longtime members said it felt less like a transfer and more like watching family move away.

He is a Central Florida native through and through, a DeLand boy who studied business at Stetson before he ever answered the call to the priesthood. That practical, build-it mind stayed with him. At a small parish in Leesburg he helped a struggling community grow into thousands of parishioners, dozens of ministries, a thriving school, a thrift store, and a Catholic television network that reached viewers around the world. He has carried that same steady, community-building spirit through his years as Vicar General of the Diocese of Orlando and pastor of several parishes before arriving at Divine Mercy in 2023.

There is a soft side to Fr. John too, and a good deal of it goes to a little black poodle named Buddy. He calls him his "little priest dog," a rescue he describes as the gentlest, most compassionate dog he has ever seen, one who never barks and follows him around like a shadow. Fr. John talks about him the way a proud grandparent talks about a grandchild. It fits. Whether it is a struggling parish, a young person weighing a vocation, or a gentle dog nobody else wanted, he has always been the one who notices who needs looking after, and never the one to take the credit when they flourish.