Our Leadership
Reverend Kenneth J. Harder
Kenneth J. Harder was born 24 May 1965 in Honolulu, Hawaii the third of five children of Dr. Henry and Ramona Harder. He has two older sisters, Karen and Monica, and two younger brothers, Stephen and David. He attended elementary and high school in Joplin, Missouri.
He received a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Tulane University and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University, where his research was funded by the Office of U.S. Naval Research.
His publications include “Characteristics of Reynolds Stress and Turbulence Production in
Drag-Reducing Channel Flows,” in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society [the same
journal as Isaac Newton published in] and Reading the Apostolic Fathers: An Introduction with
Clayton Jefford (Hendrickson, 1996).
He then worked for Cummins Engine Company in Columbus, Indiana as a research engineer in
their R & D department. It was at this time that he discerned a call to the Priesthood. Having been accepted as a seminarian by the Diocese of Tulsa, Father Ken attended St. Meinrad Seminary, taught by the Benedictine Order. He received an Masters in Catholic Thought and a
Masters in Divinity from St. Meinrad School of Theology. He also received a licentiate in Canon
Law from the Catholic University of America.
After Seminary studies at St. Meinrad Archabbey School of Theology, Reverend Kenneth John Harder was ordained a priest by Bishop Edward Slattery on 24 May 1996.
Since July 2022 he has been Pastor at St. Anthony and Uganda Martyrs in Okmulgee, in addition to his duties as the Adjutant Judicial Vicar in the Diocesan Tribunal.
Bishop Konderla
Bishop David A. Konderla is the second of twelve children, son of the late David and Ann Konderla. He grew up in Bryan, Texas; graduated from Bryan High School in 1978 and worked for several years as a machinist before entering the seminary in 1985.
After graduating from the University of Dallas in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in history, he earned his Master of Divinity from the University of St. Thomas and St. Mary's Seminary, and was ordained on June 3, 1995.
Bishop Konderla served at St. Louis Parish in Austin and St. Luke's Parish in Temple before his assignment as associate pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Center in College Station. After almost four years with the Aggies, he was named as Vocation Director for the Diocese of Austin, where he served the diocese for four years. He then returned to St. Mary's as pastor and Director of Campus Ministry in August 2005.
Bishop Konderla is known for his skills in woodworking and carpentry. All 11 siblings live within the state of Texas.
Bishop Konderla was appointed the fourth Bishop of Tulsa on May 13, 2016 by Pope Francis.
He was ordained and installed as Bishop of the Diocese of Tulsa on June 29, 2016.
Pope Leo XIV
Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost, September 14, 1955) is head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 2025. He is the first pope to have been born in the United States and North America, the first to hold Peruvian citizenship, the second from the Americas (after his predecessor Francis), and the first from the Order of Saint Augustine.
Prevost was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in the nearby suburb of Dolton. He became a friar of the Order of Saint Augustine in 1977 and was ordained as a priest in 1982. His service includes extensive missionary work in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s, where he served as a parish pastor, diocesan official, seminary teacher, and administrator. He lived in Rome from 2001 to 2013 when elected prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine. He returned to Peru as Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, appointed him president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and made him a cardinal.