Parish: St. Bernard Parish, Green Bay
Birth Date: November 5
Seminary: St. John Vianney College Seminary
Seminary Address:
2115 Summit Avenue,  Mail #5024, St. Paul, Minnesota 55105
Intercessor: St. Thomas Aquinas. He is
my patron for many things
(confirmation, my university, and
as one studying in the seminary).
I know he is eager to assist me as
I continue my walk with the Lord.

What is your favorite hobby?
I love anything with a frisbee, be it ultimate frisbee, frisbee golf, catch, or variations
of these I have learned with my brothers in seminary. I simply love the sport.

What is your favorite liturgical season?
The Triduum is my favorite for its sheer magnitude; therein we enter into the
institution of the priesthood and the holy Eucharist, into our Lord's agony
before his passion, into his holy and loving passion and death, and into the
subsequent hope for his (and our eventual) resurrection.

Who is your confirmation saint? Why did you choose him?
St. Thomas Aquinas is my confirmation saint. I came across some of his works
my freshman year, and thereafter, he was the first saint I became personally
devoted to. His wisdom, piety, charity, and humility were and are inspiring
to me. He helped me begin living as a serious disciple because I was able
to recognize, aided of course by his intercession and by grace, that our faith
which he taught and defended is beautiful and true.

Who taught you to pray?
When I was a small kid, my dad would say bedtime prayers with me. At that
age he taught us the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. He likewise
has always taken my family and I to Sunday Mass. I experienced many other
kinds of prayer for the first time through my youth group in high school with
my pastor Fr. Mark Vander Steeg and then youth minister Callie Kowalski. My
first Holy Hour and my first experiences of praise and worship, lectio divina,
the Divine Office, the Angelus, and devotion to Our Lady all came through
Father, Callie, and my time in the youth group.

What gives you the most joy at this point in your formation?
Simply living the seminarian life with my brothers fills my time with joy. One of
the greatest aspects of this life I live is fraternal. I get to strive after the same
goals, namely, holiness and discernment, with 100 other men in my seminary and
13 other men from our diocese. We get to pray together, play together, study
together, and as I said, strive towards Christ and for his Church together. My fellow
seminarians are all good, joyful, funny, loving brothers, and I could not be happier
to be counted among their number. Even during the quarantine, we were able to
return home and live in the Holy Name of Jesus House of Formation together with
the vocation directors. Despite the pandemic, quarantine, and online classes, those
two months or so were some of the most joy-filled yet of my first year in seminary,
simply because I got to spend them with my wonderful brothers in Green Bay.

How do you view a priest’s relationship to St. Joseph?
Despite remaining a virgin and begetting no children of his own, Joseph was
the foster father for Christ, and, subsequently, all of us know that he reigns
with Christ in heaven. A priest is a father in this same vein, not biologically
of course, but spiritually. Joseph is the exemplar of true masculinity and
virtuous fatherhood. He is called in his litany Most Prudent, Most Chaste,
Most Just, and Most Faithful. The priest must learn these virtues as a good
father and pastor for his flock, and Joseph, therefore, is the perfect model
and teacher. Surely Joseph longs for his priestly sons to turn to him and rely
on his example, just as Christ himself did while on earth. Surely, the priest in
the person of Christ, ought to be subject to Joseph and learn from him, in
imitation of Christ who did the same.
The priest should likewise learn from and rely on Joseph’s powerful patronage
and protection since Joseph is the universal patron of the Church, which the
priest serves, and the Terror of Demons, which the priest must lead his flock to
overcome. Just as Joseph protected and led the Holy Family on earth, he protects
and prays for the Church from his seat in heaven; this is his role and patronage.
The priest is likewise ordained to lead and protect his flock, and so he ought to go
to Joseph for guidance and help as he exercises his office as such.