Home Parish: St. Mary, Aurora
Seminary: Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology

Why do you want to become a priest? Fire Insurance? Just kidding. There are many reasons and just one of them is "If Jesus sacrificed His life so that we might have eternal life, then it must be very important. So what is the best thing I can do to help?"

Who is your favorite saint & why? St. Padre Pio. Everything he experienced, said, and did blew my mind. He helped me realize God is far more active in our lives than I ever imagined.

What is your favorite quote? “Where knowledge ends, faith must begin.”

If you could talk to anyone in the course of our history (dead or alive), who would it be and why?
St. Joseph. I would ask him "When Jesus was like 7 years old and you were showing him how to do carpentry things, like a good dad would, did He ever tell you "You're doing it wrong" or "There's a better way to do that"? Even though you've been doing it that way your whole life and your father taught you that same technique but you knew he was right. How did that make you feel?"

What is your favorite past time or hobby? Video games, computers and programming, Japanese culture and anime, cat videos, and other nerdy stuff.

Do you have a favorite bible verse? "Like a dog that returns to its vomit, so is a fool who repeats his foolishness." -Proverbs 26:11. Does God see us going back to our sins in the same way we see dogs go back to vomit? Regardless, we still love our dogs. *pat pat*

Did anyone (priest, religious sister, friend. etc.) make an impact on your decision to enter seminary?
I think all of the people in my life impacted the decision in some way. But if I had to chose one particular person, I would say Fr. Paul Flood at St. Benedict's Catholic Church in Atlanta. I identified with his personality very well and he gave me a pattern of a type of priest that really resonated with me. I felt his example was similar to the kind of priest I would want to be. Sometimes he would make minor mistakes during the liturgy which also gave me confidence and said priests can be "down to earth". So it told me "Hey, he's not perfect. I'm not perfect. So maybe I can do this!"

What is your favorite form of prayer? St. Bridget's 12 Year Devotional Prayers - Even after praying them for many years, periodically some new insight into Christ's passion will appear unexpectedly.

What is your favorite title of the Blessed Mother and/or Jesus? Mother of Mercy for Mary and King of Endless Glory for Jesus

Any advice for someone discerning the priesthood or religious life? There are two similar quotations I found to be helpful in my personal discernment. "God isn't looking for your ability, he is looking for availability." And also "God qualifies the called, he doesn't necessarily call the qualified."