Home Parish: St. Francis de Sales Church, Houston

Diaconate Year Parish: St. Vincent de Paul Church, Houston

Seminary: St. Mary’s Seminary, Houston

I grew up in Fort Stockton, Texas at Saint Joseph Catholic Church. When I was 18 I attended Angelo State University for two years before transferring to Holy Cross College in South Bend, Indiana. I wanted to attend the University of Notre Dame and attempt to walk on the football team, but I never was accepted. After that I attended the University of South Carolina for a semester and then transferred back to Angelo State in January of 2002. I graduated there with a Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology in May of 2004 and made my way to Houston that August. From 2005 to 2009 I was a teacher and a coach: the first two years at Rusk Elementary and the next two at St. Francis de Sales Catholic School/Strake Jesuit High School.

In the summer of 2004 I had an ache, a yearning that was not being fulfilled by the world. I began to search extensively the meaning of life, the meaning of what it meant to be a human person, after much disappointment and illusions from what the immediate surroundings provided me with. The saints, a personal encounter with Saint John Paul The Great, and my godfather who is a priest has played a significant part in my understanding and desire to live out this call of service.

God met me where I was. As soon as I arrived in Houston I was determined to find a Catholic retreat and I stumbled upon the Bayou Awakening. I made BYA #5 September 17-19, 2004 and this experience left an indelible mark on who I am today. It was an encounter where I discovered the truth of Christ and the meaning of the Mystical Body of Christ.

I am currently a seminarian studying Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary. My Favorite Scripture is Mark 8:35- “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. It is only truly possible to live once one has stepped out of the bounds of his own ego and entered into the mystery of love: a love which is nailed to the Cross.” Another one of my favorites is John 15:13- “THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE THAN THIS TO LAY DOWN ONE’S LIFE FOR ONE’S FRIENDS.”