Reverend Jacob Knee was ordained a priest on Sunday, June 3, 2023.  After six years of preparation, one of those years spent as a deacon, Father Knee begins the 2023 school year as Bishop Gorman Chaplain and campus minister.

Father Knee expressed his excitement on the day of the ceremony and explained what happened during the ceremony, “as part of the liturgy you lie on the ground and they pray for you. The Bishop lays his hands on you and calls down the Holy Spirit to give you the gifts you need.” After that, he was anointed with a fragrant chrism oil. The other priests in attendance prayed over him.

“It was a super significant thing in my life and it was really, really moving that it went beyond what I had prepared for or expected,” Father Knee stated and added that he is “still coming to terms with it, what it means in my life.”

Before becoming a Catholic priest, Father Knee was an Episcopal priest in Montana. He explained, “I went to Bishop Thomas who was Bishop of Helena in Montana… and I said, ‘I think God is calling me to be a Catholic priest,’ and he prayed about it, and I prayed about it, and we began the long process of preparation.”

During this process of Father Knee’s discernment, Bishop Thomas became the Bishop of the Diocese of Las Vegas and Father Knee came here with him. Bishop Thomas is now Archbishop Thomas in the new Archdiocese of Las Vegas and with Father Knee’s ordination new exciting changes were made this summer for the Las Vegas and Bishop Gorman communities.