Official
• Father Kenneth Sampson, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Medford, will become administrator of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Shady Cove.
• Father Elwin Schwab, administrator of St. Charles Parish in Northeast Portland, enters senior status. The Sentinel will look back on Father Schwab’s ministry in a future issue.
The archdiocese of Portland announced new reassignments June 21. They take effect Aug. 1.

Father Charles Holden

New assignment: pastor, St. Charles Parish in Northeast Portland

Previous assignment: pastor, Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Shady Cove

During the 2020 fires in southern Oregon, Father Holden took an icon to the four corners of the small town of Shady Cove and prayed for protection. He believes in prayer. He also believes in generosity. In 2015, when he was serving in Junction City, he took 150 parish volunteers to dinner at a local country club.

Born in New York City in 1953, he entered the Catholic Church at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Cottage Grove in 1972.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in general studies in 1979 from Portland State University. He earned a master of divinity degree in 2013 from Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin.

He worked for Bank of America and Tri-Met before entering the seminary. He was ordained in 2013 by Archbishop Alexander Sample.

While in formation, he served at Our Lady of Sorrows in Southeast Portland, St. Clare in Southwest Portland and St. Paul in Eugene. After ordination, he was posted at St. Joseph in Salem before becoming administrator in Junction City in 2014. In 2018, he was named to Shady Cove.