Hometown: Columbus, OH
Year in Formation: Deacon
High School: St. Charles Prep (Columbus, OH), 2008
College: University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN), 2012
College Major: Civil Engineering
Graduate School: University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN)
Graduate Degree: M.Div.
Previous Jobs: Construction Superintendent, Engineer
Patron Saint: St. Joseph the Worker because of his simplicity and his patronage of all workers.
Favorite Movie: Shawshank Redemption
Favorite Books: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Favorite Music: U2, Gaelic Storm, Ben Rector
Hobbies: Spending time with family and friends, cheering for the Irish, working with my hands
Most Memorable Prayer/Liturgy you have Attended: 2023 Easter Vigil at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart or the 2023 Baccalaureate Mass in the Joyce Center at Notre Dame
Place of Pilgrimage you Most Want to Visit and why: St. Joseph’s Oratory. I’ve wanted to go for many years because of my devotion to St. Joseph, but due to border closures I haven’t been able to make it!
Favorite Way to Pray: Lectio divina
Favorite Devotion: The Rosary
What Drew you to Holy Cross: The witness of the many men I encountered during my undergrad years at Notre Dame and the fervent belief in the Cross as our only hope.
Your Vocation Story: I felt called to service in the priesthood through experiences in high school and college. Despite visiting Moreau and getting to know men in formation, I decided to put my engineering degree to work in an industry I have always found fascinating. I loved working as an engineer in construction. Ultimately, after reaching goals I had set for myself, I still felt called to the priesthood and decided to leave work and enter Moreau Seminary to more intentionally discern where God is calling me.
Ways that you resonate with the Holy Cross charism, “Educators in the Faith”: When I think of the charism of being “Educators in the faith,” I think of all the many ways I have been educated in the faith. Certainly there is a prominent place for those people in my life who taught me in a classroom the fundamentals of my faith, but I think also of the people who educated me in how to live that faith integral to my daily life. So, I do not think that being an “Educator in the Faith” requires one to be in a classroom, but I hope to educate through the example of my life and continue to be educated by the lives of those people I interact with.
One aspect of Holy Cross spirituality that speaks to you the most and why: The deep trust our founder had in Divine Providence, coupled with the centrality of the Cross, speak very profoundly to me. At certain points in my life I came to the realization that our God is a providential God and that through the Cross we come to Resurrection and new life. At the time, I would not have used those words, but as I have grown deeper in relationship with the Lord while in Holy Cross, I realize that is the realization I came to years earlier.
Favorite Verse: “Let there be light!” Genesis 1:3
Favorite Quote: “A world at prayer is a world at peace.” – Ven. Patrick Peyton, C.S.C.
Favorite Bl. Basil or St. André Quote: “We shall always place education side by side with instruction; the mind will not be cultivated at the expense of the heart. While we prepare useful citizens for society, we shall likewise do our utmost to prepare citizens for heaven.” – Bl. Basil Moreau
How can visitors to this page pray for you? I would appreciate prayers in any form for my religious vocation!