PIME Missionaries Elects the Rev. Mazur as U.S. Regional Superior.

DETROIT -- The Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) recently elected the Rev. Kenneth Mazur as its U.S. regional superior. He will continue to serve as director of the PIME mission office in Detroit, where he directs the operations of the mission center, fund-raising projects, prayer services and various emergency projects.

In his new position, Mazur, a native of Detroit, is responsible for all PIME activities in the United States and Mexico. He replaces the Rev. Bruno Piccolo, who served as U.S. regional superior for 10 years.

Mazur was elected by PIME's priests and brother during a three-day regional assembly in Detroit. An election is held every four years. Also elected were the Rev. Sergio Fossati to vice superior and the Rev. Phillip Mayfield as counselor. Fossati, a native of Como, Italy, serves as assistant pastor of Holy Trinity Student parish on the campus of Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. Mayfield is a native of Detroit and currently serves in Wayne, N.J.

Mazur appointed the Rev. Dino Vanin and the Rev. Massimo Segu as counselors. Vanin, a native of Cendon di Silea (Treviso), Italy, serves as treasurer of PIME's U.S. region and assistant pastor of San Francesco Parish in Clinton Township, Mich. Segu is a native of Milan, Italy and serves at St. Agustin Mission in Cuanacaxtitlan, Gro, Mexico.

Prior to his role as PIME's mission office director since June 2004, Mazur spent 13 years in Japan, most recently as pastor of Futamatagawa Catholic Church in Yokohama. He also served as a teacher, dean of students and principal at PIME's former SS. Peter and Paul Seminary High School in Newark, Ohio. He is a graduate of St. Gerard Grade School in Detroit, SS. Peter and Paul Seminary and the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Detroit and a master's degree in educational administration from the University of Dayton (Ohio). Mazur was ordained a priest in June of 1982.

PIME is a society of secular priests and lay people who dedicate their lives to missionary activities in 14 countries around the world. Headquartered in Rome, PIME was founded in Milan, Italy in 1850 and has had its U.S. regional office in Detroit since 1947.

PIME has built more than 2,000 churches and chapels and either operates or supports 65 hospitals and clinics, 55 schools and 35 orphanages and shelters in some of the poorest countries.

Some of the programs that PIME sponsors are the Foster Parents Mission Club, the Missionary Medical Relief Society, a program for seminarians in mission countries and a program for building chapels where no houses of worship exist.

To learn more about the PIME Missionaries, visit www.pimeusa.org.

Note to Editors: An electronic image of the Rev. Mazur is available by contacting Tim Keenan at [phone] or [e-mail]