Father Studer shares, “My years of ministry have been a great joy because of the tremendous support, generosity, and care that my family and friends have shown me.”

Oblate School of Theology President Father Louis Studer, OMI, celebrates the 50th anniversary of his ordination on June 19, 2026.

Originally from Wesley, Iowa, in the Diocese of Sioux City, Father Studer attended Our Lady of the Ozarks High School Seminary from 1963 to 1967. He graduated from Lewis University with a bachelor’s degree in 1971.

The following year, Father Studer professed his first vows as an Oblate of Mary Immaculate and began his theological studies at Weston Jesuit in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1972 to 1975, earning a Master of Divinity degree. In 1975, Father Studer professed his final vows and was ordained to the diaconate that same year. Thereafter, he was ordained a priest at his home parish, St. Joseph Catholic Church in Wesley.

Father Studer’s early years in the priesthood included parish and campus ministry, serving as a director of seminarian formation and a vocation director. During this time, he earned a master’s degree in education and a Ph.D. in philosophy of education. From 1977 to 1984, he served as a teacher and principal at St. Henry’s Preparatory Seminary in Belleville, Illinois. He also taught at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and Maryville University in St. Louis.

Father Studer went on to serve in various leadership roles in the years that followed, including director of the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville from 1997 to 2007; director of Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo, Minnesota, from 2008 to 2011; and vicar provincial and provincial of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate United States Province in Washington, D.C., from 2011 to 2023.

Since 2024, Father Studer has served as the president of Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio. He shares, “My years of ministry have been a great joy because of the tremendous support, generosity, and care that my family and friends have shown me.”