Former Byzantine Catholic Priest Begins First Assignment as Orthodox Priest

NESQUEHONING, PA — The congregations of St. John the Baptist Church in Nesquehoning and St. Nicholas Church in Lansford have welcomed Fr. William Rupp as their new priest, marking the beginning of his first parish assignment since becoming Orthodox. Rupp, a Pennsylvania native, is a convert from Byzantine Catholicism to Orthodoxy who said that, after years of serving in Catholic ministry, he ultimately realized that “Orthodoxy was home.”

Rupp was raised in a deeply religious family and initially pursued environmental science at Gannon University, imagining a career connected to the outdoors. His path instead led him to the priesthood. He entered the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Pittsburgh in 2006 and was ordained a Byzantine Catholic priest in 2010.

Over the following years, Rupp served Byzantine Catholic parishes in Pennsylvania and Ohio, participated in campus ministry at Penn State, and later became director of spiritual formation at his former seminary. He also assisted parishes and chapels in the Pittsburgh area before returning to parish ministry after the COVID-19 pandemic.

His long-standing interest in Orthodoxy eventually led him to leave the Byzantine Catholic Church and enter the Orthodox Church. Rupp said the depth of Orthodox spiritual teaching attracted him and that he ultimately felt Orthodoxy was where he belonged.

Rupp succeeds the Rev. Joseph Fester, who had come out of retirement and served the two congregations as interim pastor for 26 months. Parish leaders expressed gratitude for Fester while welcoming Rupp and looking forward to a new chapter. Rupp said he hopes to meet parishioners and visitors, share the Gospel, and remain in the community as long as God wills.

Previously, the UOJ reported that a former evangelical pastor was ordained to the holy priesthood.