Priest profile

BY ANNIE LUST

“I was terrified of roller coasters.” A pretty unlikely statement from a man known to many as The Roller Coaster Priest, but in the mid-1990s, a young Jeff Walker loved Cedar Point for the experience more than the thrills. That would change.

“There was some trickery involved,” he mused about the time his sister convinced an unwilling Jeff to ride the Magnum XL-200. When the red steel coaster debuted in 1989, it was the world’s tallest, fastest and steepest roller coaster. Jeff’s sister left out those facts, of course. The ride up the 200-foot first hill, around pretzel-shaped curves and through three tunnels took only two minutes, but Jeff stepped out of the train changed. His love of Cedar Point expanded. He started collecting memorabilia. The year after his inaugural roller coaster ride, he built his own Cedar Point website by learning website coding. He absorbed everything he could about the minutiae of roller coasters (just ask him if German or Swiss manufactured roller coasters are better). In early 2000, Ohio was buzzing about the new, record-breaking roller coaster debuting at Cedar Point. Jeff, a Cedar Point aficionado for a few years, was as excited as anyone, so he concocted a plan. He contacted the Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune with a pitch: take him to Media Day to cover the opening of the Millennium Force. They liked it. A 14 year old Jeff went on assignment to his favorite place to ride the newest, most exciting roller coaster in the world. After five rides in the span of an hour, he said, “there’s nothing like it.”

Gerald and Joyce Walker were undoubtedly proud of their son. As Jeff neared his high school graduation, they may have worried, also. “I expressed no other ambition to my parents than to work at Cedar Point, so they were very concerned for my future plans,” Fr. Jeff recalled with a laugh. Just three days after commencement, he packed his bags and moved to the Cedar Point dormitories. To his delight, Jeff was assigned to work on the coaster that ignited his interest: the Magnum XL-200. “I loved the job; it was my dream,” he enthused.

“That summer also formed a big part of my faith journey,” Fr. Jeff explained. He was surrounded by people who did not practice any faith. He worked on Sundays and often did not go to Mass. “It was a struggle, but the Lord works in mysterious ways through all circumstances.” That autumn, he arrived for his first year at Bowling Green State University and experienced a similar atmosphere of worldliness until Jeff found a Catholic student organization led by Fr. Mike Dandurand. “That’s where I began to experience a conversion in my faith. Though I had always been Catholic, I took ownership of my faith.” The people who now surrounded him made a significant impact. Suddenly Jeff realized that the people he’d met over the summer — the ones who were not concerned with Christian morality — had seemed happy until he met the people at Bowling Green who were striving to live according to the Catholic faith. “Their joy so far exceeded anything I had encountered until then, that it made my friends from Cedar Point seem miserable. That led me to discerning my vocation.”

He decided he would not return to Bowling Green State University for a second year. Instead, Jeff was going to enter seminary in the fall. In the meantime, he decided to go back to Cedar Point for the summer. The second-year working at the amusement park was different because Jeff’s faith was different. “I found a whole different experience.” Not only did he find the time for Mass, but he also volunteered to play music for Sunday Masses. He also met some new faithfilled friends, including Craig, who played guitar at Mass to accompany Jeff’s keyboard. “Craig and I had a routine. We would play for both Masses, we would get breakfast, we would ride the Magnum, and he would go work on the bumper cars while I worked on the Magnum,” Fr. Jeff recollected. As it happens, Craig is now Fr. Craig, a priest for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind.

Jeff went to Chicago for seminary, and he returned to Cedar Point to work over the next two summers. He’d moved to park operations, where tasks included monitoring weather conditions and guest relations. “After four summers, I still wasn’t sick of the place,” Fr. Jeff said. But his seminarian and priestly responsibilities kept him busy for the next several years. First, he went to the Pontifical North American College in Rome for graduate studies, even returning to complete his degree after priesthood ordination in 2013. Fr. Jeff’s first assignment was St. Rose Parish in Perrysburg, where he spent three years.

His next assignment placed him close to his old stomping grounds. While he was associate pastor for the Catholic Parishes of Sandusky, he occasionally visited Cedar Point for lunch and a quick ride before returning to his priestly duties. Over the years, he’s been able to see many amusement parks across the country and around the world. “Of course, Cedar Point is still my home,” Fr. Jeff states. His presence there is sometimes evangelization in itself. Strolling through the park, parishioners from across the Diocese of Toledo often recognize him and stop to chat with The Roller Coaster Priest. Many people, especially kids, are surprised and fascinated by Fr. Jeff’s passion for coasters. “It’s a little unexpected. People forget that priests are people, too.”

Since 2020, Fr. Jeff has served as the Pastor of St. Thomas More in Bowling Green. Some things have changed in the 15 years since he left Bowling Green. “I discerned my vocation by praying in the Blessed Sacrament chapel, which is now the sacristy where I vest for Mass every day.” A quick look around his office, and there’s evidence of his two passions: a rosary and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but also a Cedar Point board game and a book about roller coasters. “Jesus and amusement parks I can talk about all day,” he said. And that pretty much sums up Fr. Jeff Walker.