Born in April, 1954, Fr. Edward Stafford is a native of Youngstown where he attended Sacred Heart School, Ursuline High School and Youngstown State University. His mother was a teacher at Sacred Heart School for 20 years and his father worked in advertising at The Catholic Exponent for over 25 years. He is the youngest of four children.
Fr. Stafford also attended Kent State University earning a Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling. From 1982 to 1994 he worked for the State of Ohio Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation as a counselor and case manager for the rehabilitation division of the Bureau of Worker’s Compensation.
Fr. Stafford was ordained November 20, 1999 as a Franciscan priest serving in a variety of assignments in West Virginia and Pennsylvania from 1999 until 2012. In 2012, Fr. Stafford left the Franciscan Order and sought incardination to the Diocese of Youngstown (process by which clergy from one ecclesiastical jurisdiction are brought under the authority of another jurisdiction). Since his return to the Diocese of Youngstown, he has served at Parishes in Canton, Girard, McDonald and on the Ursuline High School Board. He was also a committee member of the Human Rights Council of Youngstown Developmental Center until the center closed and he was involved with prison ministry at the Trumbull Correctional Institution.
In August, 2019, Fr. Stafford began serving Saint Joseph, Saint Ambrose as well as Saint Michael Parishes. Each parish remained its own entity with staffs, programs, ministries and organizations. Saint Michael’s was designated an oratory (open only for feast day celebrations, weddings, funerals and other prayer opportunities) and in December 2021, Saint Michael’s was permanently closed merging with Saint Ambrose. On May 27, 2022, Fr. Ed was granted a medical health leave. In January 2023, he returned from medical leave to serve as parochial vicar of Blessed Sacrament and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parishes.