Fr. Mike Powell, OMI
Shrine Director

Growing up in my hometown of Payson, IL, my family and I attended Mass at St. Brigid in nearby Liberty, IL. We participated in various parish activities, and I feel these experiences deepened my vocation to the priesthood later in life.

I have been an Oblate since 1997 and I was ordained a priest in 2002. I spent my first twenty years as a priest ministering in Oblate parishes. I was at parishes in Texas, Missouri, Florida, Massachusetts, and Minnesota. During my time in parish ministry, I met many people and I felt richly rewarded for my service to them.

Fr. Mike Powell, OMI is the current director of the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows and has been ministering in the Diocese of Belleville since 2023.

Fr. Victor Patricio, OMI
Director of Hispanic Ministry
National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows

Fr. Victor Patricio, OMI was born in Acapulco, Mexico. He is the youngest of 10 children. He professed his first vows as an Oblate at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine in 2013 and was ordained in San Antonio, TX on May 18, 2018. His first assignments were parish ministry for 3 years (San Fernando, CA and Chula Vista, CA) which he loved very much. Then, he became the Vocation Director for the US Province from 2021-2023. To help young men to discern their vocation in life was very powerful.

He came to Our Lady of the Snows Shrine and King’s House Retreat Center in August 2023, to serve God’s people in this part of the country as an Oblate who may be a channel of God’s love and compassion for those in need.

Fr. Mark Dean, OMI

Mark Dean, OMI, a Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate, came to the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in 2023 when the retreat ministry of King’s House was moved to the Shrine. Mark continues to work in retreat ministry at the Shrine. Previous assignments include service as a formator to Oblate seminarians, pastor to Sweden’s northern-most parish, and chaplain to booth university students and men incarcerated.

Mark is the third born of five sons, and citing the adage “in the middle stands Virtue”, claims to be keeping in good company.

Fr. James Fee, OMI

Fr. Jim, originally from Buffalo, NY, attended an Oblate-staffed high school there, where he was impressed by the community spirit of the Oblates. Feeling called to join them he was ordained a priest in 1971. A large portion of his work has been in formation ministry, accompanying other young men in their discerning and preparing to become Oblate missionaries: 11 years as part of the major seminary staff in Washington, DC and another 3 years at the Pre-novitiate level in Tijuana, BC, Mexico.

Most of his years as an Oblate missionary have involved him in parish ministry, serving together both Anglo and Hispanic parishioners in locations such as Lowell, MA, Los Angeles, CA, Eagle Pass, TX among others. He values the call to recognize and collaborate with the charisms and gifts of the laity in today’s church and pursue the struggles for justice in our society. Prioritizing God’s poor with their many faces is both a challenging and fulfilling dimension in Fr. Jim’s Oblate ministry.