I grew-up in the Town of Tonawanda, New York with my parents and older sister. I am also an uncle. I attended public schools in the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda school district and graduated in 2000 from Kenmore East. I attended Medaille College in Buffalo, New York graduating in January 2004 with a Sport Management degree. During and after college I worked part-time at a community pharmacy, was a computer aide in a Medaille College work-study program and was a shop employee at an industrial filing equipment manufacturer for one summer. My hobbies are sports, antique farm equipment (particularly the two antique John Deere tractors I own), railroad history, and scouting activities.
I realized my rather unexpected call to discern the priesthood in February 2004 through a prompting of the Holy Spirit, while watching a diocesan TV show discussing vocations and priestly formation. In hindsight, I can identify several indicators earlier in my life pointing toward such a calling, affirmed by others. Pope Benedict XVI at World Youth Day 2005 described recognizing a vocation as "like falling in love," noting that "loves knows no why, it responds with the free gift of self." I want to give myself in priestly service to people of God, using the particular gifts and talents God has given to me, to bring others into joyful communion with God in the living body of Christ, the Church. I encourage any man, who likewise feels drawn to a rewarding life of humble service in the Lord's vineyard, to respond with prayerful discernment and an open heart and mind.
I will be beginning my pastoral internship year at the newly merged Holy Apostles Parish in Jamestown, New York. In my three years of study at Christ the King Seminary I have taken courses in philosophy, religious studies, church history, scripture, moral theology, systematic theology, and pastoral studies.
My field education assignment was at the Central City Practicum immersion program in central Buffalo and at Gateway-Longview. At the seminary, I enjoy the great food, a gym with a fitness room, the beautiful woods with four hiking trails, biking on the roads around the campus, on- and off-campus social activities and the fellowship of other seminarians, resident clergy, faculty, staff, and administration.