Born in the city of Cuyahoga Falls in Ohio, I am so thankful to God in His Providence for bringing me to the Archdiocese of New Orleans and calling me to the vocation of the Holy Priesthood here. I love my adopted home!

Back in 2006, John, my older brother and Confirmation sponsor, asked me if I wanted to meet him in New Orleans to help in the rebuilding effort. That's what God used to bring me here. So on August 17, 2006, just a little before the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I took a train down to New Orleans and learned that I was fairly decent at “gutting” homes. It was the hardest physical work I had ever done and emotionally exhausting.

After six months, there were no more houses to gut. I heard about a non-profit that had started to rebuild some of those flood damaged houses and I joined them learning how to be a carpenter. During this time, I started to become active in a Catholic church in the Bywater, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos parish, and once again I experienced something more than acceptance; I experienced adoption. New Orleans was becoming my home and I experienced a profound peace and delight in discovering the culture and history of my new home. God used that peace to help me not to be afraid and receive the gift of my vocation to be a priest of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for all the prayers of everyone who supported me along the way. I was ordained at St. Louis Cathedral on June 4, 2016 and served my first four years as the parochial vicar at Divine Mercy Parish in Kenner. On July 1, 2020, I began my service as pastor of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary parish here in Hahnville and I couldn't be happier!

My life has been marked with powerful experiences of pilgrimage, especially walking the Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James, with my father and my younger brother Michael after my first year of seminary. I am now blessed to be walking with you my brothers and sisters, my sons and daughters, following the Lord and learning to trust His Providence more freely. May God bless us on the Way.