John Smestad
Leadership Consultant
John Smestad joined Catholic Leadership Institute as a Leadership Consultant in 2023. He has almost thirty years of experience serving the Church in professional ministry in fields including youth ministry, young adult ministry, religious education, leadership development, and pastoral planning. Currently he serves as the Director of Clergy & Pastoral Support for the Diocese of Nashville in Tennessee with responsibility for clergy care, international priests, pastoral leadership support, and the Pontifical Mission Societies in the diocese. A native of New Orleans, he worked and served the Church there for almost thirty years including seventeen years at the Archdiocese of New Orleans, first as Director of CYO/Youth & Young Adult Ministry with responsibility for conferences, retreats, pilgrimages, athletic leagues, and leadership formation, and then as Executive Director of Pastoral Planning overseeing the implementation of an archdiocesan general synod and providing coordination among all the offices and agencies of the archdiocese. Additionally, and concurrently to those duties, from 1997-2024 he served under five pastors as Youth Minister and Director of Religious Education for St. Dominic Parish in New Orleans.
John holds a Master of Religious Education from Loyola University New Orleans and an undergraduate degree in History and Secondary Education. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, and recipient of the Order of St. Louis Award from the Archdiocese of New Orleans and a National Catholic Youth Ministry Award from the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry.
Outside of work in ministry, John enjoys travel within the USA (37 states so far) and in Europe, history (books and museums,) live jazz, and following the musicians of Jimmy Buffett’s band on their various concert tours.
His favorite Scripture quote, “that all may be one” from the Gospel of John, informs his outlook on ministry – that each of us, clergy and laity together, are building one faith family that is the Church, the Body of Christ.
