Jacksonville, Fla. – Bishop Felipe J. Estévez has appointed Deacon Scott J. Conway, M.Ed. of Spring Hill, Fla. as the Superintendent of Catholic Schools of the Diocese of St. Augustine. The diocese encompasses 17 counties of north Florida and has 34 high-performing schools with a total Catholic school enrollment of 10,710. His appointment is effective July 1, 2015.

Deacon Conway was born and raised on Long Island, N.Y., attending primary and secondary education in the Patchogue-Medford School District before continuing his education at St. John’s University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1998. He went on to study for the priesthood at Immaculate Conception in Huntington, N.Y. for five years. He attended Long Island University in 2004 for graduate studies before returning to St. John’s University where he earned a master’s in education with an emphasis in administration and supervision in 2006. He then entered the graduate studies program at Fordham University.

After leaving the seminary, Deacon Conway began his teaching career at St. Dominic High School in Oyster Bay, Long Island. It was there that his life took a completely different direction. He met his future wife, Kristen, and two years later they were married.

Deacon Conway continued to study in the field of education becoming a principal and serving on committees within the Diocese of Rockville Centre’s Superintendent’s Office.

After he and his wife reflected on their life they decided it was time to make a major move and they decided to follow the Yankees to Tampa for spring training. This was a good move for the family and especially for their two children, Emma and Owen.

It wasn’t long after working in the Diocese of St. Petersburg that Deacon Conway was approached by a priest there about becoming a permanent deacon.

“The deacon’s call to public ministry never left me when I left the seminary,” he said. “As they say, God kept calling and he kept hiding.”

He was ordained to the diaconate in 2011 and serves at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parish in the Diocese of St. Petersburg.