0 Years at Nativity Cathedral, 11 years experience in field.

Biographical Information

  Gulfport native and former St. John the Evangelist parishioner, Father Bernard “Bernie” J. Papania was ordained a priest in
the order of the Missionaries of Charity Fathers on November 27, 1999, in Tijuana, Mexico. (The Missionaries of Charity Fathers was founded by Blessed Mother Teresa.

The 1983 graduate of St. John High School, is the son of Estelle and Bernard Papania. He attended Mississippi Sate University where he studied to be an architect before exploring a vocation as a priest.
“Every book I picked up about Mother Teresa was like water for a thirsty person,” he said in a 1994 Gulf Pine Catholic interview. “She was so focused on God, on Christ, and serving Him.” When he learned that the Missionaries of Charity had priests and brothers as well as nuns, he inquired about them. Before ordination, Brother Papania studied in Mexico City and in
Rome.