Regis Alumni and the Priesthood

By: Agustin Alvarado

Regis has had a good number of students become priests, deacons, and seminarians: Deacon Chuck Amsberry, Father John Amsbery, Deacon Steve Tabor, Father Dan Parish, Father Mark Bentz, Seminarian Michael Crowell, and Seminarian Andrew Kelly. All of them graduated from Regis. The most information we have about is for Michael Crowell, Deacon Steve Tabor, and Father John Amsberry.

Michael Crowell is from Stayton, Oregon, and grew up here. He has twelve siblings and two loving parents. He graduated from Regis in 2019. He was always open about discerning the priesthood. Everyone knew him as the happy, smiley Crowell. Michael joined the seminary soon after high school and is still attending today. He took a two-year break but is now fully on track. During the summer of 2024, he went to Quo Vadis days and I met him and we talked about the seminary and certain focuses on the faith. 

 Father John Amsberry was previously the pastor of St. Joseph in Portland, Oregon. He was ordained in 1997. Father John has been spreading the faith for over 20 years. He was on the National Evangelization Teams for two years. Father did not completely do what he wanted to do and said  ¨in terms of my faith practice, I would describe the first two decades of my life as basically going through the motions.¨ He describes this as being younger and misunderstanding the reason for attending Mass. Father John also shared that after he was confirmed, he had a “check-in-check-out mentality¨ concerning his faith life. Despite all these ups and downs, he eventually was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Portland. Fr. John is currently the pastor of a parish in Southern California.