Fr. James Gerard Liebner, SVD, was born in Stamford, CT and grew up on Long Island, NY and in New Jersey. Fr. Liebner is a Divine Word Missionary and was ordained a priest on March 16, 1985. The Divine Word Missionaries (Societas Verbi Divini) have close to 6,000 missionaries worldwide working in 70 countries. He attended Catholic Theological Union in Chicago at the same time as Pope Leo XIV also was a student there. He also has a Master’s Degree from the University of Illinois, Chicago. He worked in a Spanish-speaking parish in Chicago for nine years after ordination and after that he was a missionary in Taiwan and Macau for 18 years where he taught in Catholic universities. He returned from Asia 12 years ago to help care for his elderly mother and worked at St. James Church in Georgetown, CA, for four years during that time. He has worked at St. Philip’s Church in Noe Valley for the last five years.
Fr. Liebner enjoys photography as a hobby and his photos have been published in various magazines and calendars, including the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Catholic San Francisco Magazine; Divine Word Publications; Archdiocese of Chicago Liturgy Training Publications; Saint Mary’s Press, Winona, MN; and the University of Chicago Press. One of his photos taken in Mexico was used on a billboard in Chicago, by Gannet Advertising.
Fr. Liebner writes lyrics for the Italian composer, Aurelio Porfiri, to produce
liturgical music and religious-themed musical works. A search on Youtube
for “Fr. James Liebner” will lead you to some of his work.
