For two decades, John Stevens has dedicated his life to serving Catholic parishes in Halifax and Yarmouth. Born and raised in Halifax, he currently resides in Eastern Passage where he is supported by his loving wife and three children.

John first began his career in commercial banking right after earning a Bachelor of Finance from Saint Mary’s University in 2002. However, after only two years, he made the unconventional decision to leave that behind and pursue a career centred around his Catholic faith, earning a position at the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth. Starting off as Youth Coordinator, he personally delighted in serving young people and seeing them come into a relationship with Christ. Now as the Manager of the Office of Pastoral Life and New Evangelization, John is directly involved in supporting the missions of parishes through catechesis, communications, youth ministry, evangelization and other areas. During this time, he continued to explore his faith through his education, and earned a MA in Theology and Religion at AST in 2014.

As manager, John has been able to use his position to tackle social justice issues and to serve those in his community. In 2021, Archbishop Brian Dunn named homelessness as one of the four pastoral priorities for parishes, and approached John to take the lead in what is now called the Emergency Shelter Project. Initially, it was only supposed to last a few months, but in response to the severity of the crisis, the project was extended, and it is now an ongoing initiative that runs year-long. The shelter currently consists of 25 individual temporary housing units, each equipped with heat, air conditioning, electricity and USB charge ports that have been built inside. Thanks to the support of dedicated staff, including a full-time Shelter Coordinator, clients are guided with help navigating different social services, applying for income assistance, while moving toward more permanent housing solutions.

The Emergency Shelter Project continues to grow and has now served over 70 clients. The success of this project has been attributed to its collaborative nature, affordability, and ability to adapt to the needs of its clients. John’s leadership has allowed the project to flourish, and his enthusiasm to help those in need has brought churches of different denominations, businesses, communities and other nonprofits together. He continues to go above and beyond what his role requires of him to help manage the shelter for the benefit of its clients.

Through witnessing the changed lives through the fruits of his work, and of those coming into faith, John continues to find much joy and fulfillment in his role at the Archdiocese and looks forward to continuing to live out God’s will for his life.