Hometown: Lansing, MI
Year in Formation: Postulant
College: University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN), 2019
College Degree: English & Political Science
Graduate School: University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN), 2021
Graduate Degree: M.Ed.
Career Before Formation: High School English Teacher/ Civics Teacher/ Cross Country & Track Coach
Patron Saint: St. Joseph & St. John Bosco
Favorite Movies: Dead Poets Society, Whiplash, Top Gun
Favorite Books: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Favorite Music: The Band Camino, various Broadway, Ashes Remain, All Time Low.
Hobbies: Running, reading (literature and poetry especially), playing piano and singing, board games, weightlifting, hiking.
Most Memorable Prayer/Liturgy you have Attended: End-of-year Mass at Archbishop Shaw High School, May 2024. I have had the privilege of being the director of music ministry at Shaw for the past few years, and I have loved being able to lead my students in our use of song to praise the Lord and to join together as a school community. My last Mass with them is one that I remember particularly fondly.
Place of Pilgrimage you Most Want to Visit and why: I would like to do the Camino de Santiago sometime: the idea of a physical journey that mirrors spiritual journeying resonates with me.
Favorite Way to Pray: Enjoying time in silence with God in the Eucharist, journaling, reflection on scripture.
Favorite Devotion: The Rosary
What drew you to Holy Cross? I have always felt called to teaching and mentoring, and I am drawn to Holy Cross’ charism of education. I also feel drawn to the strong community that men of Holy Cross have and the joy that they radiate in their ministries.
Vocation Story: God prompted me through so many aspects of my professional and personal life to bring me to discern with Holy Cross. As a teacher, I took joy in teaching my students about literature, but I felt most fulfilled when our conversations ran into questions about how faith and trust work in the lives of the characters we studied (and inevitably spilled over into conversations about ourselves). As a coach, I took joy in strategizing for races with my runners, but I felt most fulfilled when I mentored them through how the virtues of the sport influenced their relationships with God, their families, and each other. As a liturgical music director, I took joy in facilitating people’s worship of God through music, but I felt most fulfilled when leading my ensemble in prayer before and during Masses. All of these, and so many more realizations of God’s hand at work in my life, have led me to discern the priesthood and the religious life. In Holy Cross, I have found the family with which I desire to journey as I continue to discern how I am called to become a bolder witness to Jesus Christ. And in this, I have found great joy.
Favorite Verse: “You are my son; today I have begotten you. Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?” – Psalm 2:1,7
Favorite Quote: “To live without faith, without heritage to defend, without battling constantly for truth, is not to live but to ‘get along’; we must never just ‘get along.'” -Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati
How can visitors to this page pray for you? Please pray for my continued discernment of how the Lord is calling me to serve the Church and build up His kingdom!