Ordained a Deacon of the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma on April 25, 1997, Paul Govek currently serves as a deacon of the Catholic Community of Stillwater, OK.

Deacon Paul is the third of four children born to Catholic parents, Joseph and Josephine Govek, in Sheboygan, WI.  He attended Catholic school through eighth grade and graduated from Sheboygan South High School in 1962. Paul studied Chemical Engineering & Business Administration at the University of Wisconsin and earned an Associate Degree in Business. He earned a Certificate of Continuing Education in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University in 1991, and continued studies in mechanical engineering and business earning a BS in Management from Oklahoma State University in 2005.

Paul served in the National Guard from 1965 to 1971 during the time of racial unrest and anti-Vietnam War protests.
 
He was employed in the product design engineering department of Kohler Co. and then at the MerCruiser Division of Mercury Marine retiring as a Product Engineer - Planning & Quality in 2007.
 
Paul and Ann Sprangers were married in 1969 and lived in Fond du Lac, WI until moving with three young children, Jeffrey, Kelly Jo, & Steven, to Stillwater, OK in 1979 through his job transfer. A fourth child, Matthew, was born in Stillwater. All of the children are married with families. One lives in Texas, one in Oklahoma and two in California.
 
After several years of discernment and encouragement from several key people, Paul entered diaconate formation. In the years prior to ordination, Paul was a cantor, coordinator of the RENEW Program and member of the Religious Education Board and then a member of Parish Pastoral Council for St. Francis Xavier Parish. He represented the Western Vicariate of the Diocese of Tulsa on the Diocesan Religious Education Board and then the Diocesan Pastoral Council until 1994.  
 
Deacon Paul’s duties at St Francis include coordinating the RCIA Process, training Liturgical Ministers, overseeing liturgies, and assisting at Spanish masses.
 
Deacon Paul enjoys reading, singing, learning to play a ukulele, solving puzzles, especially challenging jigsaw puzzles.