It’s been 21 years since I was ordained as a Redemptorist priest. Looking back, I can see that ministry has nudged me into being multitalented in ways I didn’t know I could be. By moving past my comfort zone, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I have learned that I can do many things, despite being extremely introverted.

It took just one experience for me to realize that I had talents I never knew I had. Preaching homilies in front of a church full of people terrified me in my first assignment at Holy Name Parish in Omaha. After a couple of Sundays preaching, a nun came up to me after Mass and suggested that I throw away my notes. She said, “You’ll be a much better homilist without them.” That was a tall challenge for me, but I did as she suggested. In doing so, I realized that the Holy Spirit worked through me as a guide when I took the risk of preaching off the top of my head. So, I threw away my notes and have never used any since that time.



It was also at Holy Name that I received my first retreat assignment. A priest from the Columban Retreat House south of Omaha called me one day and said, “I understand you do 12 Step.” I answered in the affirmative and he asked me if I would direct their Alcoholics Anonymous retreat that October. Without hesitation, I said “Yes,” even though I had never directed a retreat before. The retreat went wonderfully well, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and again I realized I had a talent I never knew I had. This experience piqued my interest in 12 Step retreat ministry because every family suffers with some form of addictive or dysfunctional behavior.

In my next parish assignment at St. Mary’s in Whittier, I was assigned to RCIA. Our program averaged 30-35 people each year. One evening I talked to the RCIA team about providing a spiritual retreat for the candidates. They liked the idea, so I created a retreat which was held at the Joseph and Mary Retreat House in Los Angeles. The next year, I created a new retreat for RCIA, which I presented at the Franciscan Retreat House in Malibu.

At this point, I knew that retreat ministry was the strongest calling I had received from God. I asked to be moved to the Redemptorist Renewal Center in Tucson and my request was granted. As a child who grew up in an alcoholic household, I knew I had to share my recovery with those who were still suffering. I created a total of 41 different retreats that invited people to face their addiction behaviors and their need to control life in ways that are impossible. The retreats were well received, and they led to 14 years of retreat ministry in Tucson.



During my time in Tucson, I also preached many parish missions. In Whitter, we had a priest who had overbooked himself for one week during Lent. He asked if one of us would take the extra mission for him. No one in the community responded, so I told him that, even though I’d never preached a parish mission (I was two years ordained at that point), I’d take it for him. Again, I learned if I pushed past my fears and allowed God to be in charge, I’d discover a talent I
never knew I had – and I did. Since that time, I’ve created 15 different missions that focus on forgiveness, faith over fear, the Gospel of Kindness, and living the Great Commandment, among many others.

In early 2018, I received an email informing me that I was being considered to fill the new Communications Director position at the North American Conference of Redemptorists. I responded that I would be willing to talk about it. I was under consideration for the position because earlier in life I had been Press and Public Information Officer for the Kentucky Court of Justice and Assistant Press Secretary to the Mayor of Louisville.



Shortly after I responded to the first email, I received an email from Rome informing me that I had been appointed to the newly created General Government Communications Commission and that I needed to report to Rome for our first meeting. I officially became Communications Director in September of 2019, and am stationed in Washington, DC, with the provincial government of the Baltimore Province.

As the first and only Communications Director for the Conference, my job has been to establish a system of digital communications for Redemptorists who will follow me in this position. For the most part, I have been self-trained for this position, with the exception of some tutoring in creating videos. Communications were very different in the 1980s-90s when I was working. There were no digital communications. I created stories with a typewriter, shot photos and developed my own film, and did hand paste-up for publications.

Over the past three and a half years, I have created a website for the Conference, as well as a Facebook page, an Instagram page and a YouTube page. It’s my responsibility to gather and share news from all over the North American Conference, which includes the United States, Canada and Mexico. I spend my days pretty much glued to a computer searching out news from every Redemptorist Province/Vice Province. If I have to be out and about, I can still perform most of my job on my phone or iPad. I have also created videos, the most important one being an overview of happenings in the Conference for the 26th General Chapter.



Aside from my communications work, I have been part of other ministries in DC. I was spiritual guide for a pilgrimage to Italy with 36 parishioners from St. Mary’s in Whittier in October of 2021. We traveled to many areas of Italy, including Assisi, where the tour guide arranged for me to celebrate Mass at the Tomb of St. Francis, and San Giovanni de Rotunda, where I celebrated Mass at the church of Padre Pio.

It was another challenge that I accepted as I once again waded through uncharted ministerial waters, and it turned out to be a beautiful spiritual experience for all. The most thrilling aspect to me, however, was a conversion that happened. One of the men on the pilgrimage was attending with his Catholic wife. And unknown to me, things I said and preached about converted him to Catholicism. He is being baptized at this year’s Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s.

In 2022, as COVID lifted, I began to receive requests for retreat ministry again. I was asked to direct the nuns retreat at RRC last June and I directed a new retreat I had just created called “Hope Sees the Invisible” while I was there. It was my first retreat at RRC since 2019 and I had 60 participants in attendance. In October, I directed another retreat at RRC, “When Will My Life Begin?” which was all about finding life at the end of your comfort zone. And in November, I directed a Gamblers Anonymous retreat at Immaculate Conception Retreat House in Long Island, NY.

I am also scheduled to direct two recovery retreats at the Washington Retreat House in DC this year, and I will be directing my newest retreat at RRC in March called “If Only: Making Peace with our Regrets to Heal Our Past.” Like all of my retreats, I chose this theme because everyone can relate to it. Most of my life I have been afraid to take risks. Moving past my comfort zone was unthinkable 20 years ago. But I’ve learned that when I accept God as my partner in mission, and take the risk of growing, everything works out better than I could ever have imagined.