the School
of Hard Knocks, I found myself converting to Catholicism; I learned
you can run away from God, but you can't run away from His mother.
As I am sure has been the case with all of you, I have had many
moments of conversion and re-conversion along the path--but, thanks
to God's gentleness, none that has thrown me off my horse (at my
age, a signal grace). After attending RCIA I was baptized and received
into the Church in 1998 by Fr. Gene Honan at St Mary of the Assumption
in Northampton. My interactions with Fr. Gene and other priests
further fueled my desire to follow Jesus as a preist and/or religious.
Inspired by the example of Sts. Ignatius Loyola, Xavier, Regis and
countless other Jesuits, I entered the Society of Jesus in 2001.
Three years later I left the Society, and had the good fortune to
be accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Springfield at Blessed
John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Mass. I am most grateful
for this vocation. Please remember me in your prayers!