Dear Parishioners,

The fellow in our Gospel goes wrong, and not just because he desires only to "rest, eat, drink, and be merry!" (Lk 12:13-21). He tears down his barns. The more sensible, and spiritually appropriate, thing to do would have been to add on; to build an addition to his currently existing barns.

The barns in our Lord's parable, some spiritual writers claim, symbolize our lives. What we have "stored up" would be our possessions, our talents, our personality traits, the people and things in our life, and so on. The rich man is in transition (he has come into tremendous wealth) and wants total change. He destroys his previous identity, which were represented by the old barns.

Dear Parishioners of St. Juliana!

I am thrilled to have been named your pastor! Allow me to start by saying I absolutely love being a priest. These last three years as a priest have been the best years of my life, and I’m confident my life will only get better being with you all at St. Juliana’s. This is an exciting time for the church in Chicago, and I think especially so at our parish. I am eager to start; eager to serve you and grow together in holiness.

A little bit about myself ... I was ordained a priest in 2012 and am originally from Winnetka. I attended Sts. Faith Hope and Charity grade school and graduated from New Trier high school in 2004. I then graduated from The George Washington University in Washington DC in 2007 with a degree in political science. I heard the call to become a priest while in college and decided to enter seminary immediately upon graduation. After completing a year of pre-theology at Mundelein Seminary, I continued my priestly studies and formation at the Pontifical North American College, America's seminary in Rome. I was in Rome for six years, from 2008–2014. While in Rome I earned a JCL, or a license in canon law. From 2012-2016, I was an associate pastor at Mary, Seat of Wisdom Parish in Park Ridge. It is an awesome parish and I loved being there!