Very busy semester

I have had quite a busy semester, and have been busy getting through finals and ready for Diaconate ordination currently, but thought that this (taken from the USCCB website)should be shared especially for any discerners out there. Please keep those to be ordained priests in prayer.

ORDINATION CLASS OF 2008

People might be surprised to know that I…
never formally considered becoming a priest until I was a junior in college. There was one person, my superintendant at my high school, who hinted to me on graduation day that I should keep the ministry in the back of my mind. He thought that I would make a great Catholic priest, and he himself is not even Catholic!

as a small child I played Mass everyday with all the neighborhood kids yet often times I was the only Catholic who was present.

that I was voted most promising future of the Class of 2000 when I graduated from high school and entered college seminary from a predominately baptist city.

I did not like to go to Mass as an adolescent because I found it boring. In many ways, I started to like to go to Mass again when we got a new pastor who easily related to youth. It was because of this pastor example's of life that inspired me to consider entering the seminary.

love Chicken Fried Steak and gravy.

Played in a rock band in high school and college and like reading mystery stories.

Used to be a Disc Jockey. Not a radio one, but one for birthday and anniversary parties and the like. I have a wider range of knowledge of the music of the past 45 years.

That I have been a permanent deacon for almost 20 years. I taught on the college level for 24 years and taught at the diocesan seminary for almost ten years.

was always interested in the priesthood, but took a circuitous route by becoming a Low Vision Specialist in Optometry first.

did not decide to become a Priest until after entering the Seminary. Until then, I gave God a "maybe", but he showed me time and again what his will was for me, so I accepted.

I have an identical twin who is an Anglican minister.

Before entering the seminary I graduated from Catholic University of Lublin and earned J.C.L. - Master and licentiatie in Canon Law.

I was a marching band director and a driving instructor.

Was in cooking school and I studied law before the seminary

play the accordion or that I once wanted to be a professional chef.

Was a cook and a worker at Tyson Company before entering the seminary.

practiced medicine for 2 years, and went to graduate school for 1 year before entering seminary.

I worked for Ford for approximately 14 years before entering the seminary, with the final eight years in assorted managerial roles. While working at Ford I picked up my MBA from U of M Ann Arbor going to night school while working full time. I am currently a Second Lieutenant (chaplain candidate) in the United States Army.

was a fishing and canoe guide in Northern Minnesota.

have whitewater rafted down the Arkansas River.

was a lawyer. I wanted to be a lawyer since I was eleven years old. I never considerd the priesthood until my parish priest asked me to consider it after recognizing a potential priestly vocation.

Inspected municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities during my working career prior to seminary.

the Lord gave me the special grace of being able to be ordained as a Transitional Deacon in the same mass that my Father was ordained a Permenant Deacon.

Have second degree black belt in Taekwondo.

am happy pursuing my vocation.

found my calling to the priesthood not by "hanging out" in the church but in my heartfelt performance of my work with patients (people with disabilities) as an occupational therapist.

wanted to become a radio journalist when I was younger, all the way from grade school up through college.

was a coal miner during the summers between college semesters.

am a normal person who likes to do normal things like going to the mall and watching tv.

My vocation is attributed to many years serving at the altar in my home parish.


wanted to be a priest since second grade. I knew even at that young age that God was calling me. I felt it all through grammar school and it continued through high school. I spoke with an advisor about it at my Catholic high school. When I went to college, a state institution, the call grew faint. I felt that it had disappeared but after several years of work it continued. The call seemed to grow more clear and distinct until I entered the seminary and I have never been happier. It has been a long five years but the best years of my life.

was a successful investment banker before I entered the seminary.

Obtained an accounting degree in college and was about to start a Master's in Accountancy program when I decided to enter the seminary instead.

served in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and the call first surfaced then. I decided to go to college instead and became a CPA. I dated a few nice girls but could never commit to marriage because I had never addressed the calling to the priesthood that surfaced earlier.

felt called to the priesthood from such a young age (4 years old). Many people do not seem to understand this but I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not feel God drawing my heart to serve Him and His Church as a priest.

have a diverse group of interests and a diverse background in education, work and personal experience, and priesthood was a natural decision for me. So often people think of priests as men who are not "normal men," when, in fact, we are just normal men who feel a certain call to living out the Gospel. We all choose a vocation as our means of hoping to attain eternal life, but just because one man chooses to be a priest, he does not at the same time stop being a regular guy.

worked in broadcasting for 32 years, 7 in radio and 25 in television.

Played college football and was a quarterback.

love to perform magic and juggling and have been doing magic and juggling since I was 7 years old.

listened to the Archbishops' vocation journey and I said to myself: "I can do that."

am very interested in music, theater, opera, and a history buff. I love to learn and am always seeking out new topics of discovery!

Served on active duty in the U.S. Navy from 1978 to 1998 in the aviation field.

have been a volunteer firefighter for ten years.

don't know how to swim.

10 years ago if you would have said that I would approaching ordination to the priesthood in a couple of months, I would have said you were crazy.

was an actor in Hollywood for a year right out of High School.

I am part of a documentary entitled "The Calling" which follows the process of becoming a spiritual leader within one's community.

Was called to the priesthood by Jesus after I had finished reading the Gospels for the first time.

The character of Rudy Baylor in John Grisham's novel, The Rainmaker, was a turning point in my taking the step of leaving the legal career and moving towards priesthood, something I always aspired.

never dreamed of going to college or graduate school after high school. I was simply planning on going to trade school and learning carpentry and wood work. Obviously God had some other plans!!

ran the Twin Cities Marathon.

was never very active in the parish and never even thought of the priesthood until my Freshman year of college.

enjoy reading economics journals.

Served in the 3rd Infantry Division, Alpha Company 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry. I also worked for Charles Scwhab & Co. as an investment advisor prior to entering the seminary.

love nature and I love to travel. I love hiking and watching sunsets. I love seeing new places and experiencing new cultures. I want to see the world during my vacation time. I think that it also helps me to have new perspectives and to appreciate what I have when I travel. I hope that I can also share what I experience with others.

delayed my vocation because I felt responsible for the family business and being the oldest son, but one day, at the age of 34, my Father officially released me and that same week I inquired at the vocations office in Tucson. I had always thought of the priesthood since I was in 6th grade. I thought I was not educated enough so I worked voluntarily for 18 years at my local parish. It was a priest who finally told me I had what it takes.

Grew up on a tobacco farm in Southern Maryland. I joined the seminary after high school. As a seminarian I have done mission experiences in Thailand and El Salvador

Was named a College Lacrosse All American my senior year.

Have traveled to 29 countires

Have completed 3 Half Ironman triathlons

Was in mission for two years in Colorado

really wanted to be in a Rock Band in High School and College.

received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, started a small high-technology business, and was one of the early university researchers to be involved in the field of nanotechnology. I worked as a Research Assistant Professor at West Virginia University for several years and served on a National Science Foundation panel to award research funding to university researchers in the area of nanotechnology.

have both an uncle and great-uncle who are priests of my diocese. Growing up, I definitely did not want to continue this "family tradition," but eventually God's call became more evident. Now, I am excited to begin my ministry as a priest, and I thank God for the gift of my vocation!

People may be interested to know that I am a sports junkie. … Since entering the seminary after high school, I have continued being active by playing soccer, volleyball, softball, flag-football, and have also participated on the seminarian basketball team. In addition to these I enjoy getting out for a great round of golf.

taught myself to play the bassoon in college.

do my daily prayers (liturgy of the hours) from a handheld computer rather than from the paper breviary.

I can speak more than one language: Polish, German, Russian, Spanish, and English.

only began to consider religious life and priesthood when I was nearly 40 years old, after having had a fulfilling and successful career in business.

worked as a Clinical Psychologist, gaining a doctorate in the field, before turning down a successful and financially stable career to enter religious life and the priesthood.

have made three mission trips to Mexico, one to Jamaica, one to Thailand and China.

enjoy speaking in Spanish and have spent a year of studies in Mexico.

have run two marathons while in seminary. I also was a mathematics major with minors in education, statistics and art history at a state (non-religious) university.

Lived and worked abroad for eight years in the UK, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria prior to entering religious life

People might be surprised to know that I was a restless kid, very active in sports, always had a girlfriend, and didn't consider the priesthood as a possibility for me until about a year before entering the seminary. At home I was rather misbehaved, buy my parents helped me to see that the most important thing in life is to do God's will, which is what will make us happy in this life and in the next.

I was an underground diocesan seminarian for 7 years in Vietnam before I came to the U.S.

I worked as a reporter for The Tablet newspaper, the official paper of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

I worked in a home improvement/hardware store throughout high school. I can solder pipe, rewire an electrical outlet, seed a lawn and fix a leaky faucet. People also might be surprised to know that I was a baseball umpire for little league.

That I served as a Naval Officer and helicopter pilot for ten years before entering the seminary.

I have been practicing martial arts for the past 8 years. The arts have included: boxing, kickboxing, jiujitsu, and judo.

served as the president of my college fraternity. Many of the aspects of Religious Life mirror what I found there, a sense of brotherhood which I treasure very much.

intended to become an officer in the U.S. Army Infantry while enrolled in a Catholic university only to be guided by God in the direction of religious life by the witness of prayer and community life of the religious brothers and priests who ran the institution. Their enthusiasm for engaging in the life of the students on campus, beyond the classroom, was at the forefront of evangelization.

have a lifelong goal of backpacking the entire Appalachian Trail.

have composed a lot of gospel and Mass music.

busy week

So, winter break is done and I got my taxes completed, so the school year must be approaching the ever-dreaded final push around mid-terms to finals. Things are going quite well but I have a busy week between school work and stuff going on in the parish coming up. St. Joseph Parish is having their semi-annual Chicken Dinner this weekend, so if you are in the Baltimore area, stop by and have some great food! I will also be at the parish this week to lead Eucharistic Adoration on Tuesday and for a Mass for the Knights of Columbus on Thursday. Adoration is a wonderful thing to start during the Lenten season since many parishes begin this practice or extend their normal weekly observance during this time. It is a wonderful time to just quietly talk to Our Lord and remain focused on his sacrifice for us. The Diocese of Metuchen is in the middle of their Holy Hour for Vocations in which all parishes of the Diocese will have Eucharistic Adoration and I encourage everyone to try and attend at your parish or if you are not within the Diocese, you are always welcome, but perhaps you can encourage your parish to start something like this. You won't regret it!

So, Johan Santana pitched his first game as a Met yesterday in a Spring Training tilt against the Cardinals. Although it wasn't a great outing and only two innings, it was such a joy to come back to my room and tune into Mlb.TV to watch live baseball again. It reminds me that spring is just around the corner. I can smell the hotdogs already!

Well, I hate to cut this short, but I do have to run to the parish to teach CCD and just wanted to make sure that I get this updated a little more often then in the past. I have not forgotten to include your moment of zen... ever wonder what else your name spelled out, now you can know without doing any work yourself! Enjoy!

polly tickle science

Now, understand where I am coming from, I was sick of the fact that this presidential race seemed to begin in 2005 after we had just finished a race, however since we are running down to the last two candidates on each side I feel I can actually comment on what is going on (sorry, Ron Paul). First, of all does anyone understand the so-called superdelegates? The best explanation I have seen is here. I don't know about you, but it bothers me a bit to know that in an election, at least on the democratic side, which looks like it will go down to the wire, the party hardliners can choose someone that the voters do not want. Plus, why are they super? I want to be super.

Along the same lines, where is the large outrage of people complaining that although one candidate won the popular vote in the state, they didn't get the most delegates? The media which kept hammering the point home in the 2000 election, but seemingly doesn't care now in the primary... will somebody please explain this? Of course, this is also the same group that wanted recounts in Florida to make sure "every vote counted" but didn't care about New Mexico where the vote was even closer (source: CNN).

Another thing I can't get is this fascination with "Conservative" on the Republican side. None of the candidates this year were truly conservative when looking at all of their records and the whole idea of one trumpeting that they are conservative over the other was similar to the line in Matthew's Gospel: "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?" (Matt 7:3) I think we've gotten this whole conservative-liberal thing way out of whack... as my friend pointed out at dinner the other day, you know when I am getting a nice cold beverage to drink I want the person pouring the drink to be liberal... it's ok, we can say it.

Finally, don't trust the polls... remember they were telling us that Rudy was going to win easily and Hillary on the Democratic side, then it was Romney for the Republicans, and now it is McCain and Obama. Vote for whatever candidate YOU want without listening to what others want you to believe. Speaking of which, the most typical news from politics, was the fact that Obama-Girl (I have decided not to post links because of other comments I have read on various sites here), the woman who sang "I have a crush on Obama" and was the key that many pundits were pointing to about the young vote going to him, didn't vote! She was interviewed by the New York Times at a party and explained that she was sick from going to Arizona for the Super Bowl and couldn't vote... apparently she was not too sick to party though. Which just makes me say that I believe I will understand tickling a parrot (see title of this post) about as much as politics.

OK, well, I guess that is enough rant for the day... guess it just got to me.

Happy Ash Wednesday!

Well, it is that time of year again, the beginning of lent, one of my favorite times of the liturgical year. It is a simpler time that allows us to attempt to reform our lives a little bit in the hope of conforming ourselves to the Gospel message. I wish that all of you have a blessed Lent and use this time, not to focus on what you give up or what added tasks you have given yourself, but to look on the gain of a closer relationship with our Lord that it is meant to lead us to. I checked out the Vatican website (as you can tell by the picture above) and one of my favorite links that they have placed on the site is from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music. They are in single clips of between 30 seconds and 3.5 minutes, but it is just nice to take a small prayer break with. Enjoy!

So, I know again it has been a while since I wrote, and there has been so much to talk about... I am not sure where even to start. I guess the best thing to do is lop off the rest of 2007 and just get to the new year. 2008 has been quite good for me thus far. I started with a wonderful trip to Toronto for the International Bowl which Rutgers won quite easily, but it was still a good time. We did the typical Toronto stuff - CN Tower, Hockey Hall of Fame and Rogers Centre (note the Canadian spelling), getting lost in the PATH, and Bill has all the pictures from there which will probably be posted on Webshots sometime soon (more on that later). The best find though was Steam Whistle Brewery. As you may remember, Bill and I visited St. Arnold's when we went to Houston and we decided this was a nice tradition to continue. When we walked into Steam Whistle Brewery (right across from the Rogers Centre) the girls behind the counter didn't ask if they could help us or if we were interested in a tour, but "would you like a free sample." We learned all about the brewing process and the history of the old roundhouse which is now home to the brewery and enjoyed this wonderfully refreshing Canadian Pilsner. The mantra of Steam Whistle is to do one thing really well, so this is the only beer that they produce... if you get a chance, I highly recommend it for a nice 45 minute tour and the typically friendly Canadian crew.

So, I have figured out that most of my electronics were not Y2K8 compliant... My camera broke when I was in Toronto, it was already on the fritz, but one more drop pretty much did the trick. I have not purchased a new one yet, but is probably the next major purchase. My cell phone car charger had died and then the phone itself is starting to get flakey (although I just need it to work until this summer when my contract expires). Then on returning to school, my computer decided to die, fried hard drive, so I had to go out and get a new PC, I decided to go against my better judgment and purchase an HP, it has been good to me thus far, although I am not a huge fan of Windows Vista, but it isn't as bad as many people will lead you to believe. Finally, my tv has been acting up recently, turning on after I turn it off... kind of creepy, but I have a smaller one that will suffice for me. Being so technologically attached, it has been a bit of a strain on my life style, but hey in the long run, they are only things. On a positive note, one of my Christmas gifts was a Garmin nuvi 250 which has been working quite well.

After going to toronto, I had my diaconate retreat as required by Canon Law, I decided to go to St. Mary's Abbey in Morristown, NJ. The Benedictines have a wonderful community and my retreat was quite peaceful. I took along the rite of ordination and my Bible along with two texts which I found to be quite good and recommend them for anyone discerning the priesthood: A View from the Altar by Howard Bleichner and The Joy of Priesthood by Stephen Rossetti.

Finally, I got some wonderful news just about a week ago... I was accepted to the Catholic Relief Services Global Fellows Program which will allow me to travel to Rwanda in May-June. I am very excited to be a part of this program and have always had a special inkling to travel to Africa. Although I have been able to go to Egypt, I have always considered it more of the Middle East than Africa although it is on the African Continent (a view I have found many Africans share as well). I am intrigued to see the differences and similarities with how we think and act and to be able to witness the recovery process from the genocide from 1994 in an effort that no one may ever go through it again. I am really looking forward to this trip and ask for your continued prayers for solidarity.

Well, I believe I have written enough for now, it is nice to be back and writing again and I will try to keep this more up to date in the future. Have a wonderfully spiritual Lent.

I know that you are all missing the one thing that ends, each posting, well I will not disappoint you... Your Moment of Zen brings us to one of the most pointless sites I have ever found... apparently these people really like Table Tennis.