Parish: St. Bernard Parish, Green Bay
Birthday: February 24
Seminary: St. Francis de Sales Seminary
Address: 3257 S. Lake Drive, St. Francis, WI 53235-3702

Which saint should people invoke for your vocation?
St. Maria Faustina Kowalska. I would be so grateful for her intercession — she
allowed Jesus to work through her to reveal his infinite mercy, and I also want to
be a trusting recipient and instrument of that mercy.

Coffee or tea?
Coffee! I find the greater amount of caffeine to be very helpful
for focusing, and I prefer the flavor to any tea I have tried.

If Jesus drove a vehicle during his public ministry, what
would it be?
A rugged four-wheeler would have been ideal for the difficult terrain
encountered while tracking down and herding back lost sheep.
What is your ideal way to spend the Lord’s Day?
A quiet Holy Hour (and coffee, of course) before sunrise would
be the perfect way to start the day. Next, the day would center
and revolve around Mass, the most fitting way to celebrate the
Lord’s Resurrection. This would be followed by spending time
with my family, enjoying a home-cooked meal together, and
quietly reading or simply enjoying each other’s company.

If you could celebrate Mass anywhere in the world, where
would you and why?
I would love to celebrate Mass one day at Sweetest Heart of Mary
Parish in Detroit, a beautiful Polish church whose twin Gothic
steeples reign over I-75 as a reminder of God’s Kingdom. This
is the church where my parents were married and where I was
baptized as a baby. I would be very honored to return as a priest
and offer the Holy Sacrifice in thanksgiving both for my parents’
beautiful gift of the faith to my siblings and me, as well as the gift
of being adopted as a beloved son of the Father through baptism.

What spiritual book or author has most influenced your
journey of discipleship?
While there are so many beautiful titles out there to choose
from, one that continues to bear fruit in my life almost daily
is the book “Fire Within” by Fr. Thomas Dubay. It presents the
teachings of St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross
on prayer, specifically showing how these holy Doctors of the
Church connect prayer with the Gospel message to live out the
virtue of charity daily. One of the most impactful things this
book helped me to realize is that prayer is not something we do,
but primarily something we receive from God. In other words,
prayer is not in the least bit us trying to get the Lord’s attention
or convince him of a need we have; it is us gradually entering
deeper into the mystery that God could not be more attentive
to us already and that, at every moment, he looks at us with
unimaginable tenderness, love, and mercy.

How is the Eucharist meant to foster unity in the Church?
In St. John’s account of the Last Supper, Jesus prays to the
Father for those who believe in him. In one particularly moving
petition, he prays that his followers “... may all be one, as you,
Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that
the world may believe that you sent me” (John 17:21).
I believe that the Eucharist establishes unity in the Church
because through this sacrament we are drawn into Jesus, the
source of all unity, and he into us. The more closely we are
united to Jesus, the more closely we will be united to those
around us. The deepest way to be united with Jesus is through
the Holy Eucharist; therefore, the closer we become with Our
Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, the more we will grow in unity
with our brothers and sisters.
By allowing the Lord to live and work in us, through receiving
him in the Eucharist, we allow his love, grace, and presence to
shape the way in which we relate to others. I believe that when
Jesus is the one defining how we relate to others, we will always
be living out our unity with him by becoming more united with
our brothers and sisters.