The Rev. Christopher Merry will head St. Joseph Church, 79 Case Ave.. He will succeed the Rev. Charles Schmitt, who will become senior associate at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Erie.

The Rev. Jeffrey Lucas will be pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, 370 Spruce Ave., and a part-time teacher at Kennedy Catholic High School in Hermitage. He will replace the Rev. Victor Maksimowicz, Order of Friars Minor, who will be reassigned. The Franciscan community no longer will staff the parish.

The 43-year-old Rev. Merry has been parochial vicar since 1996 at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Church in Bradford. He is returning to St. Joseph, where he served from 1992 to 1996 as parochial vicar.

The Waterford, Pa., native was ordained April 24, 1992.

The 50-year-old Rev. Lucas has been a Catholic chaplain at Behrend College of Pennsylvania State University and at Gannondale, both Erie, since 2000. He was pastor from 1994 to 2000 at St. Joseph Church in Erie; and parochial administrator from 1993 to 1994 at St. Columbkille Church, Stoneboro.

Rev. Lucas was parochial vicar from 1988 through 1993 at Our Lady of Peace; 1987 to 1988 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel; and from 1981 to 1987 at St. Peter Cathedral, all Erie.

The Greensburg, Pa., native was ordained May 15, 1981.

Both Revs. Lucas and Merry studied for the priesthood at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, N.Y.