Called to lead

Before coming to UD,  I’m embarrassed to admit, I didn’t even know what a Marianist was. But I knew one thing: I wanted to go to a Catholic university. When I walked onto UD’s campus, I knew instantly this was the place for me.

At the time, Marianist student communities weren’t as present on campus like they are now. I was involved with Campus Ministry while attending UD, but my interaction with the Marianist brothers was minimal. That changed when, as a daily Mass attendee, I was invited by Father Jim Heft, S.M., to consider a religious vocation.

After graduating in 1991, I lived with the brothers for more than three years during the process of becoming a brother. In that time, I decided to become a lay person within the Marianist community. The Marianist charism — the fact that family, priests, brothers, sisters, lay people are all equal — felt like an inclusive model of the Church to which I wanted to belong.

I have steered my life in the direction of the Marianists, allowing the charism to drive my career decisions and live a life of service to my community. I have worked for several nonprofit and community organizations, letting my faith position me to serve the common good.

"I have steered my life in the direction of the Marianists, allowing the charism to drive my career decisions and live a life of service to my community."

While it was always my aspiration to make the world a better place, I never imagined that would lead me to sitting on the leadership council for the International Organization of Marianist Lay Communities. In 2022, I traveled to Madrid and said “yes” to being nominated for leadership. I was selected to serve as one of the five regional representatives, overseeing most English-speaking Marianist communities, including those across North America, Ireland and Australia.

At the international level, we get to ask questions on how we as Marianists can better serve the community and carry out the vision of the Church and how that happens at the local level, unique to each culture.

We’ve seen many people leave the Church during the last several years, and as international leadership, I have a responsibility to read the signs of the times and evaluate how the Church should respond. We look to the philosophy of Marianist co-founder Father Chaminade to address the concerns people have and to build a Church that is inclusive, particularly of youth, the poor and those in the margins.

We’re at a rebirth, where we have to look at how secular society is right now, and how disenchanted people are with religion and adapt to a model of the Church that is inclusive and helps move the Marianist community toward change.

UD put me on the path to be a changemaker, which gave me the understanding that it’s not just about what happens in the pews. It’s about how we’re living our lives and impacting the people around us. 

As told to Zoë Hill '22

Illustration by Zachary Ghaderi