Diocesan Leadership
On May 24th, 2022 Pope Benedict XVI named Father Erik K. Pohlmeier, the eleventh Bishop of St. Augustine. He was installed on July 22, 2022 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Jacksonville.
Bishop Pohlmeier was born July 20, 1971, in Colorado Springs, Colo. He studied at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville (1989-1991) and received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in Indiana (1994); and at the Pontifical North American College and received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (1995-1997). He received a master’s degree in spirituality from the St. Thomas Aquinas Pontifical University (Angelicum) in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on July 25, 1998.
Deacon Scott Conway was born and raised on Long Island attending primary and secondary school in the Patchogue-Medford School District. After completing high school, he went on to the Cathedral Seminary Residence of the Immaculate Conception for four years, studying Philosophy. After leaving the seminary, Deacon Conway began his teaching career at St. Dominic High School in Oyster Bay, Long Island. He was ordained as a Permanent Deacon in the Diocese of St. Petersburg, and he now ministers in the Diocese of St. Augustine as a deacon and as Superintendent of Catholic Schools.
Deacon David Yazdiya was born in Jacksonville, Florida and attended San Jose Catholic School and Bishop Kenny High School. He graduated from Bishop Kenny in 1981, and he attended St. Meinrad College Seminary. He has a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology, and he earned his M.Ed from the University of North Florida.
Deacon Yazdiya was ordained as a permanent deacon in 2006 in the Diocese of St. Augustine’s first class of permanent deacons. He is married to Caroline Corrigan Yazdiya, who also graduated from Bishop Kenny High School. They have three children: David, Talbot, and Caroline, all of whom graduated from Bishop John Snyder High School.