Parish: St. Paul Parish, Combined Locks
Birth Date: June 6
Seminary: Pontifical North American College 
00120 Vatican City State Europe
Mailing Address:
127 Parkway Drive
Combined Locks, WI
54113-1265

Are there any books that you love so much that you
have read them twice (or more)?
”The Spiderwick
Chronicles” was a fantasy series I read multiple times
when I was young. I read all five books in one day when
I was home sick once.

When you find yourself with a “free night,” what is
something you are likely to do?
I love hanging out in
one of the lounges at the seminary with some of my close
friends. It is so important to me to spend time with my
friends, sharing a conversation and having a good laugh.
What do you remember from your First Communion?
I do not remember a lot from that day, but my mom tells
me that when she came into my room to wake me up,
the first thing I said to her was, “It’s the best day of my
life, Mama.” I have no memory of saying this, but I have
often reflected on the gift that God gave me of such
childlike joy about receiving the Eucharist that day.

Where is one of your favorite places to pray, and what
makes it special to you?
One of my favorite places to
pray is the adoration chapel at St. Margaret Mary Parish
in Neenah. I spent a lot of time in prayer there when
I was home for the summer after my second year of
seminary. What I appreciated most about the chapel was
the silence. It was such a quiet and peaceful place to
sit with Jesus in the Eucharist. Also, I love the beautiful
stand for the monstrance with the angels supporting it
and the giant stained glass window of the revelation of
the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary.

What role has the Eucharist played in your discernment
of the priesthood?
Eucharistic Adoration has always
had a special place in my discernment. In college, I went
to adoration for the first time with my friend, Jack, who
was a missionary at the university. I was immediately
struck by the silence in the church. Everyone was so
focused on Jesus in the Eucharist, and I was drawn into
the silence with them. During the rest of my college
years, I found the greatest peace sitting in adoration and
attending Mass. Amidst the many things happening in
my life, the Eucharist was steady ground for me to stand
on. It was in the presence of the Eucharist, the visible,
tangible remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, that I
was reminded of how much God loves me, and from that
grew my desire to be an instrument of his love as a priest.
Throughout seminary, I have continued to seek time with
Jesus in the Eucharist. Whenever I receive the Eucharist,
I am reminded of God’s love for me and the journey on
which he is guiding me.

If there was one thing you could communicate to
the faithful about the importance and role of the
Eucharist in our Catholic faith, what would it be?

In the liturgy, we raise our hearts in prayer to God and
enter the greatest reality: the fact that God loves us.
The story of salvation in the Bible is the drama of God
loving his people. God wonderfully created us, but then
Adam and Eve sinned by turning away from the loving
relationship offered by God. Time and time again, God
established covenants with his people, and even when
they were unfaithful, he was always faithful. Then, God
sent his Son, Jesus, to offer a new and eternal covenant
in his blood to gather all of us separated from him by sin.
We enter this story every time we go to Mass and draw
near to the Eucharist in adoration. At Mass, we hear
the Scripture as it recounts this great story, and in the
liturgy of the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Jesus on the
cross is made present to us again. We must understand
the sacrifice in the context of the story in Scripture. The
Eucharist is not merely bread and wine. It is not just a
nice symbol or a reminder of some distant event from
the past. Wrapped up in the Eucharist is the entire
history of God loving his people. When we receive the
Eucharist and come to adoration, God reminds us that
he loves us so much that he gave up his Son for our sins
so we will always remember that he will never abandon
us and is always loving us.

Which saint should people invoke for your vocation
and why?
St. Teresa of Calcutta. She has inspired
me since entering seminary. After working with the
Missionaries of Charity this summer, I desire to live out
the love for the Body of Christ in the Eucharist and the
poor as she did.