By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

dobrien@dailynews.net

Sometimes there can be added pressure to return to your hometown to compete in an athletic event or present a program.

But Father Tony Stephens is looking forward to coming back to western Kansas and talking in front of family and friends and those who knew him growing up in Sheridan County.

Stephens, 32, will be the presenter at this year's Heartland Parish Mission at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Hays.

The mission will begin Sunday and continue through next week.

Following his week in Hays, Stephens will present at the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Grinnell, then at St. Joseph Parish in New Almelo, both near his home parish of St. Paul in Angelus.

The Hays and western Kansas missions will be among a string of six for Stephens that started in Missouri and will end in Wyoming, covering four states in a seven-week span.

The Hays mission is set for 7 p.m. each day. There also will be morning sessions, at 9 a.m. Monday through Thursday.

Stephens is a native of Angelus in southwest Sheridan County, where his mother, Alberta, still lives on the family farm along with his three younger sisters.

Stephens, the oldest of seven children, was ordained a priest in 2005 and now is vocation director for the Congregation of Fathers of Mercy in South Union, Ky.

The primary work of the Fathers of Mercy is to conduct parish missions and retreats in an effort to "re-evangelize and revitalize the faith of those who hear."

The charism, or theology, of the Fathers of Mercy is "bringing people back to the sacraments," and a badge they wear reflects the image of the prodigal son.

Stephens often travels to other countries to preach, so he is happy to have been assigned some in his own back yard.

"I preached a mission in Hoxie last fall; it was a really good mission," Stephens said. "It was very well received. So I'm excited about going out there again."

His family feels the same way.

"If there weren't going to be (missions) out this way, we'd probably be in Hays every night," his mother said.

Annette Hammeke, one of the religious education coordinators at IHM, said that she and others in her department take suggestions from parishioners and priests and other parishes in the Heartland group about what they want to hear about, or who they might want to hear present, at the mission.

The eight parishes that form Heartland Parishes of Ellis County are four from Hays -- IHM, St. Joseph, St. Nicholas of Myra and Fort Hays State University's Comeau Catholic Campus Center -- as well as four in outlying communities in Ellis County.

Those are St. Catherine in Catherine, St. Anthony in Schoenchen, St. Francis of Assisi in Munjor and Our Lady Help of Christians in Antonino.

"Then we narrow down (the suggestions), decide which would best serve the people in the Heartland parishes at this time in their lives," Hammeke said.

The missions are called "a comprehensive refresher for Catholics and also an excellent introduction for non-Catholics interested in learning more about Catholicism."

Stephens will talk about the same topic in the morning sessions that he will that night to give people more opportunities to catch each session.