Hearts To Heart Ministries
Spirituality And More...
About us
Father Stephen and Craig
Hello,
My name is Craig Conway. I have been a friend of Fr. Stephen's for a number of years now; helping him with the Ministry and doing his web sites. There comes a time in a persons life when you just have to slow down a bit. That time has come for Father.
I told Father that when that time came I would do everything in my power to help him keep the ministry moving forward. That is what I choose to do.
That brings us to the present. As a lay person I will be looking over the Ministry under Fr. Stephen's direction. We have moved the office and supplies to the Iowa location and things will continue as usual. We will be available for you 24/7. I know I have alot of friends out there I haven't met yet, so, I look forward to meeting and hearing from you. Our contact information is on this site. God Bless all of you. Father and I look forward to helpng you in your climb to a better spritual life.
Now, a little about Father...........Father Stephen is doing fine and sends his blessings.
Ordained in 1951 in Albany, NY, Father Stephen's first assignment was in a mid-city parish in Binghamton, NY,where his primary work was developing the character of young people of the parish. In 1955, he found the Catholic Information Center in that city and put all of his efforts into convert instructions and public relations for the Catholic Church.
During this time Father Stephen entered into the field of communications to spread the Faith through radio and television; he also entered into the ecumenical ministry and established a dialogue group of Catholic priests and Protestant ministers.
In 1966, Father Stephen became the Chaplain at the State University of New York at Binghamton, working diligently to foster the Faith of the Catholic students.
In 1973, he was granted a sabbatical where he spent a year in Assisi, Italy, studying the prayer life of St. Francis. After the year was up, he returned to establish Mount St. Francis Hermitage in Maine, NY, having received permission from his major superior to imitate more realistically the life of his founder. At this facility, Father Stephen was able to nourish the Faith of thousands of people who came to the hermitage from the entire East and West coast of the United States and Canada.
After more than seventeen years living a very rugged and deeply spiritual life, he entered into a preaching ministry traveling through the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, sharing with hundreds of thousands what he had learned at the hermitage where he had spent his time listening to and carrying out the prompts and nudges of the Holy Spirit.
Father Valenta has earned a Masters in psychology.
For years he has given retreats to Mother Teresa's Sisters throughout the world.
Father Stephen has crossed the oceans a hundred times leading pilgrimages to many holy shrines around the world.
