Tell us a bit about your first thoughts of a vocation of priesthood.
I did not grow up Catholic, nor did I ever have many early memories of the priesthood. Growing up, I was passionate about action sports, particularly motocross, and thought I wanted to pursue working in the motocross industry. Jesus broke into my life in college after I sustained a nasty injury on the motocross track. I began to taste of His mercy and experienced Him make me new in real and tangible ways, delivering me from sin and setting me free. I found myself wanting to give Him everything! I began to see that the whole point of life was to lose my life in surrender to Him, so that I might truly find life. Towards the end of college, I was moved by the example of the missionary brotherhood Servants of the Word to prayerfully consider if Jesus might be inviting me to set aside marriage and leave everything to follow Him, to belong completely to Him. As I came into communion with the Church, I came to know the Father’s love more deeply and in return wanted to give Him my whole life! After encountering His love and mercy through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and spending more and more time in front of Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration, I experienced a desire welling up in my heart to make known the Father as a priest. After some discernment, I eventually entered the seminary!
What excites you the most about becoming a priest?
I cannot wait to have the privilege to offer Mass and hear confessions! To be able to minister the deep love and mercy of God through the sacraments will be the greatest gift!
What saint has been your greatest inspiration and why?
For a set of years, I have had a real devotion to St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Damien of Molokai. St. Maximilian, in the laying down of his life, has always inspired me to want to lay my life down in authentic love for the people Jesus entrusts to me. St. Damien, in his desire to go and serve the lepers, has moved me to always be especially mindful of the afflicted, the lowly, the forgotten, to not pass them by, but to try and bring them Jesus, for they are his treasure.
How do you hope to answer the call of the New Evangelization in your priestly ministry?
I want to help build real bonds of Christian community wherever I am sent, so that Jesus can be more deeply encountered and authentic friendships in Him can come to life!