Although I was born in Queens, New York, my family moved to Sayreville before I was a year old. My mom still lives in the house we moved to when I was 5, in the Parlin section of Sayreville. I have family in South Amboy as well. They and my mom all belong to St. Mary’s parish in South Amboy.
I have two younger sisters – Natalie and Christine – both of whom are married with grown (or almost grown) children. Since one lives in Hillsborough and the other in Rumson, it’s easy for us to get together frequently. My family is very close, and big gatherings with aunts and uncles and cousins are the norm. After God, my family is the biggest source of strength and stability in my life.
Most of my education happened in the Sayreville public school system, following a couple of years in Catholic school. I got a degree in history from Montclair State College (before it became a university) and completed my seminary studies at Mount Saint Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Maryland. I was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Edward Hughes on May 30th, 1987 and offered my first Holy Mass in St. Mary’s Church in South Amboy the following day.
My first priestly assignment was right down the road at St. Mary’s in Alpha, followed by terms as an assistant at Our Lady of Mt. Virgin in Middlesex and St. Matthias in Somerset. I then served as pastor of St. Magdalen’s Church in Flemington for several years, and in St. Jude’s Church in Blairstown for a couple of months. After serving three years as associate pastor of St. Bernard’s Church in Bridgewater, I became pastor of both Most Holy Rosary and Holy Spirit Churches in Perth Amboy. I enjoyed four wonderful years in that assignment before coming to St. Philip and St. James in Phillipsburg, NJ. I have been pastor of Ss. Philip and James since June 2009, and it has become my favorite assignment.
Believing that teaching the Faith is one of my most important priestly duties, I have taught school and CCD classes in all of my priestly assignments. While studying history in Montclair State College, I took almost all of the teacher certification classes since I thought they might come in handy someday. In Phillipsburg, I teach both 8th and 4th grade religion in our school every week, as well as 5th grade CCD. I find great joy in this work, and am convinced of the importance of our Catholic Schools.
My hobbies include trains – in which I have been interested my whole life. This hobby has led me to places like Altoona, PA and North Platte, NE – places with heavy freight train traffic that I love to watch and photograph. I also enjoy working on my own model railroad, which I built several years ago. I love going to the movies – and eating more pop – corn then I should. The sports is the first – and sometimes the only –section of the paper I read. Almost my whole family has a love affair with baseball, and we often get together to enjoy the games. While a Yankee fan, I have come to enjoy minor league baseball a great deal in recent years and regularly frequent Trenton Thunder and Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs games.
The priesthood, of course, is the greatest gift God has ever given me. There are so many parts of being a priest that I enjoy – especially celebrating the sacraments and getting to know and serve different people. I try to say a prayerful Mass that moves along with a short, ‘to the point’ homily.
I believe that my most important job as a priest is to help my people get to Heaven – while being sure to get there myself. I ask my parishioners to help me in this regard by praying for me every day. Specifically, I ask each of them to kindly pray one Hail Mary for me daily. Pray that I will be the kind of priest God wants me to be for this parish – and be assured of my daily prayers for each of you.