Hometown: Columbus, OH
Year in Formation: Temporarily Professed – 4th Year in Vows
High School: Bishop Watterson (Columbus, OH), 2005
College: University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH), 2009
College Major: Classics
Graduate School: University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN), 2019
Graduate Degree: PhD – Theology and Literature
Previous Jobs: Donato’s Pizzeria (Columbus, OH); Librarian at Vanderbilt Divinity Library; Theology and Classics Professor at University of Notre Dame/Holy Cross College
Patron Saint: St. Augustine and St. John Henry Newman. These are my patron saints because of their devotion to the religious life and their desire to live out the call to educate hearts and minds.
Favorite Movie: Casablanca, Star Wars, Avengers, Superman
Favorite Books: Augustine’s Confessions John Henry Newman’s Apologia, John Henry Newman’s An Essay in the Grammar of Assent, Anything written by Marcus Tullius Cicero, Jane Austen, J.R.R. Tolkien
Favorite Music: Country, Classical, and Disney Music
Hobbies: Reading, running, movies, hanging out with my friends and brothers, reading Greek and Latin, good conversations
Ways that you resonate with the Holy Cross charism, “Educators in the Faith”: I believe our charism resonates with me because we try to educate the hearts and minds of young people. Not only are we trying to prepare citizens to live in this world, we are trying to prepare people for the heavenly city. This means that we help individuals, no matter who they are, develop their hearts and minds so that they can live out their vocations, which have been given to them by God.
One aspect of Holy Cross spirituality that speaks to you the most and why: My favorite aspect of our Holy Cross Spirituality is our devotion to our Lady of Sorrows. By remaining in Mary’s heart, we remember that we are men with hope to bring. If we stand with Mary at the Cross, we constantly remember that the love of the Resurrection can overcome any pain, suffering, or fear that we may experience in our lives.
Favorite Quote: “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” (John 15: 15-17)