Pastoral Staff & Lay Leadership

Clergy:

Rev. Paul Asoh, MSP, Pastor

Fr. Paul Asoh is a priest of the Missionary Society of St. Paul of Nigeria. Ordained a priest in 2002, he has ministered in Africa, Europe and North America, serving as assistant director of seminary formation, a college chaplain, and director of a retreat center. Prior to his assignment to St. Mary’s he served for two years as parochial vicar at St. Therese parish in Mooresville, NC.
Email: pastor@stmarymotherofgod.com

Rev. Mr. Matthew Newsome

Deacon Matt was born in Charlotte, NC, and moved to Sylva after high school. He attended college at Warren Wilson College and Western Carolina University, where he graduated in 1999 with a degree in English Literature. He earned a Masters of Theology degree from Holy Apostles College in 2008 and was ordained to the diaconate in 2018. He is an adult convert, having been baptized at St. Mary’s in 2000. He has been serving as the Catholic campus minister at Western Carolina University since 2008. He and his wife, Joannie, have seven children.
Email: MANewsome@rcdoc.org

Rev. Mr. William (Bill) Shaw

Deacon Bill was ordained for the Diocese of Rockville Center in 1979. He relocated with his family to North Carolina in 1990 where he served at St. Paul the Apostle parish and later St. Pius X parish in Greensboro. In 2017 he and his wife, Ann, relocated to the mountains, where he served at St. Joseph in Bryson City and now at St. Mary Mother of God in Sylva. Over many decades of ministry, he has been involved in adult education, diaconal formation, and as a marriage tribunal advocate and assessor. He served as director of the Living Waters Catholic Retreat Center in Maggie Valley, NC from 2018 until its closure in 2025.

Rev. Mr. John Szarek (retired)

Deacon John is from Chicago, IL, where he attended Catholic schools and served as an altar boy and lector since his youth. He was ordained a deacon for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2006, and served for 13 years at St. Ansgar parish in Hanover Park, IL, where his main areas of ministry were to the homebound and those in nursing homes, hospitals and rehabilitation centers. Since retiring from a career in nursing, Deacon John and his wife Sue have lived in in Franklin, NC.
Email: szarekjohn@comcast.net

Parish Staff & Volunteers:

Parish Commission Chairs