Deacon Stephen Brown is a native of the Southern California coastal town of Torrance. Aspiring to be a linguist, he entered military service in September 1977. At the end of his Army career as a military policeman and Chaplains’ Assistant, he landed in Columbia in the Spring of 1995. Through his career he’s been stationed on the two coasts, Germany, and Korea, where his lovely wife of over 4 decades hails from. Deacon Steve and Suni have two adult children.

A lifelong Catholic, Deacon Steve has stayed involved in his faith, and by extension of his military experience, in church ministry for over 40 years, working with many different denominations. He began work with religious education as a Catechist in 1992, and upon his retirement from the Army in 1998 became a religious education and faith formation director for the Military Community of Fort Jackson. He served in this capacity until taking over religious education program at St Thomas More in 2013.

He recently completed a 20-year career as a manager of accounting for government programs at Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, putting his BA is Business Management from the University of Maryland to good use.

Deacon Steve and Suni began discerning a vocation to the permanent diaconate in 2007 and were accepted into the formation program in the Spring of 2011. After completing a Master of Theology from St Leo’s University, on January 30, 2016 he was ordained with 36 brothers in formation to the Order of Permanent Diaconate by Bishop Robert Guglielmone and became the first Deacon assigned to St Thomas More Parish.

He has been known to slow down a lot of really good golfers, loves to read, and the role of Monday morning Quarterback, especially for SEC football. As a transplant to the Carolina’s he has become a very hopeful and long-suffering supporter of all things Gamecock!