Fr. James Michael Smith was born in 1986 in Pascagoula, MS, the oldest of six. His family moved from there between Washington state, North Carolina and Houston during his childhood, eventually returning to the Gulf Coast. Father studied engineering at University of South Alabama in Mobile before discerning his priestly vocation. Most Reverend Bishop Roger Morin accepted him for studies for the Diocese of Biloxi in 2008 and he went on to study at St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington, LA and at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, finishing with his Master of Divinity in 2015, being ordained a priest that year. He has served at three parishes and is happy to join Our Lady of the Gulf as her Parochial Vicar. Fr. James is also assigned as Spiritual Director to de L’Eppe, a ministry of the Diocese of Biloxi for Catholics with Deafness or other disability, which also goes by the name, The Tabitha Project, based out of Gulfport. His personal interests include art and art history.