Fr. Phil Thompson is a longtime faithful servant and supporter of Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Dubuque and especially of Xavier Catholic Schools. He graduated from Loras College in 1974 and completed his theological studies at St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Indiana. He later earned two advanced degrees — a master’s in religious education from the University of San Francisco in 1984 and a master’s in secondary school administration from Loras College in 1986. He was ordained on June 3, 1978, at St. Columbkille Church in Dubuque by Archbishop James J. Byrne. For more than 40 years, Fr. Thompson served a number of pastoral assignments across the Archdiocese. His stops include Independence, Rowley, Mason City, Plymouth, Rickardsville, Holy Cross, Walford, Cascade, and Gilbertville. These assignments also include serving as a religion faculty member at Cedar Rapids LaSalle High School for the 1984-1985 school year and later as LaSalle’s principal from 1989 through 1991. He was named founding pastor of John XXIII Parish in Cedar Rapids in 2000, and administrator of St. Patrick’s in Fairfax in 2001. He was also administrator of Holy Trinity Parish in Walford from 2001 until it closed in 2002. He was named pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Cedar Rapids in 2008, helping the parish to recover from the devastating flood of that June. In 2010 he was named pastor of St. Pius X in Cedar Rapids, where he would serve until his retirement in July 2022. As the long term pastoral coordinator of Xavier High School and the Xavier Foundation, Fr. Thompson has been a leading voice in Xavier’s commitment to excellence in Catholic education. His contributions have been key to a number of new initiatives launched at Xavier to further strengthen the school’s viability and sustainability while remaining true to its mission of developing the total person in a Catholic environment. Since 2016 he has also served as the priest supervisor of St. John the Baptist in Mt. Vernon and St. Isidore in Springville. He has served on the Priests’ Council as a member and chair, the Iowa Catholic Conference, the Archdiocesan Catholic School Board, the Priests’ Personnel Advisory Board, and the Archdiocesan College of Consultors.BIOGRAPHY UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 2022