Interests and Hobbies:

In my free time I like to go fishing, spend time outdoors, work on my vacation home doing remodeling and construction projects. I also enjoy being on the farm and doing good hard farm work.

Influences:

My grandparents have been a huge influence on me as well as several of the priests that were in my home parish: Fr. Jim Bruch, Fr. Bruce Lawler and Fr. Brian Hughes.

Best thing about priesthood:

Celebrating the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.

Typical Day:

6:00 am - wake up, unlock the church and set up for Mass.
7:20 am - Daily Mass followed by time in the office.
Mid-morning consists of hospital or home visits and time in the school.
The afternoon is also spent doing those things plus working on homilies, meeting with staff, etc.
My evenings usually have activities such as parish meetings or school activities.

Vocation Story:

I guess I've always thought about the priesthood even from an early age. I was inspired by the priests in my home parish and always thought that is something I might do some day. Of course, I never told anyone about it and just hoped the idea might pass. When I was in middle school I put the idea aside and forgot about it. During my sophomore and junior years of high school the idea of being a priest kept coming back to me but again, I never shared it with anyone. By the time I was a senior in high school, I thought about it every day and it kept me awake at night.

Just as I was working up the courage to talk to my pastor about it, one evening after an event he approached me and invited me to attend a Project Andrew dinner with him. This helped break the ice for me and it was full speed ahead after that. I was in close contact with the Vocation Director at that time as he also lived in my home parish. I visited a few seminaries in preparation for college seminary and in the fall of 1999 I began the formation process for the priesthood. I attended Immaculate Heart of Mary College Seminary at Saint Mary's University, Winona MN, for my undergrad degree and Saint Meinrad Seminary for major theology. The monks of Saint Meinrad have played an important role in my formation and I love the Benedictines!