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 Mark Dean, OMIFr. 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.