We welcome Fr. John Sheridan as our new pastor and the second Rector of the Basilica of St. John the Baptist! Fr. Sheridan is also the newly appointed Pastor of St. Peter Church, our collaborative parish. Growing up in Boardman, Ohio, the third son of four children to Tom and Tricia Sheridan, Father Sheridan went to St. Charles Borromeo Parish, where he also attended grade school. Father then went to Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown. During high school, he felt that God was calling him to serve the Church as a priest.  After graduation, Father Sheridan began seminary studies at the Pontifical College Josephinum, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Literature.  Upon completion of four years of college seminary, Bishop Tobin, then-Bishop of Youngstown, sent him to study in Rome at the Pontifical North American College.  During his five years of studies in Rome, Fr. Sheridan obtained a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and a License of Sacred Theology in Liturgical Theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.

During the process of formation to the priesthood, Father Sheridan was involved in many different ministries at nursing homes, schools, and parishes.  Before ordination to the diaconate on July 18, 2009, Fr. Sheridan served a pastoral year at St. James Parish in Warren, Ohio, where he was also able to teach for part of the year at John F. Kennedy High School.  After Ordination to the Priesthood on July 17, 2010, Fr. Sheridan returned to Rome to finish his degree.  Thereafter, he was assigned to serve as the Parochial Vicar at St. Peter Parish in Canton, Ohio and part-time Priest Chaplain at Mercy Medical Center in Canton as well.  During his two years of ministry there, Fr. Sheridan also taught part time as an adjunct lecturer at Walsh University.  Fr. Sheridan was then appointed to be pastor of St. Joseph Calasanctius Parish and St. Andrew Bobola Parish in Ashtabula County, effective July 1, 2013.  From 2014 until 2017, he also served as the Associate Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Youngstown and as a member of the Board of Catholic Charities of Ashtabula County.  In the summer of 2017, after four years of ministry at those parishes, Fr. Sheridan was asked to serve as the Rector of the Basilica of St. John the Baptist and Pastor of St. Peter Church both in Downtown Canton.

Father Sheridan also serves as a member of the Diocesan Presbyteral Council, the Diocesan Review Board, and the Diocesan Liturgical Commission.