Born in Sioux City, Iowa in the feast of St. Dominic, August 8, 1947, I
have three brothers; Douglas (deceased), Duane and Dennis. My father
Dwight died in 1995 and mother, Helen, died in 2005. I attended
Catholic schools k- grad school. I played clarinet, but never perfected
the talent. After two years at St. Thomas College in St. Paul, MN, I
enter the Dominican Order in 1967, you might know Jimmy Marchionda, OP,
one of my classmates. By 1970 I decided I wanted to experience life a
bit more before I finished my studies and get ordained, so I left in
good standing to live in Chicago, Ill. for the next 19 years. During
that time, I taught GED to inner city men and women for three years, and
then Catholic secondary schools within the Chicago archdiocese. My
subject was religion.
Though these years were wonderful, I never lost my desire to be a
Dominican. In 1989 I was accepted back into the Order, made another
Novitiate and after completing studies in St. Louis (one of my
classmates was Melony Ahern), was ordained a priest in 1994. I served
as president at Fenwick, our prep school in Oak Park, Ill, from 94-98.
I spent two years in Grand Rapids, MI, at Aquinas college as campus
chaplain in an experimental living situation with Mary Ann Barrett, OP,
of all people. From 2000 until the present I was pastor of St. Thomas
Aquinas, The Catholic Center at Purdue University. At St. Toms, as we
call it, I was in the prebyteral council for the diocese, conducted
many retreats for the Divorced and Separated, traveled to Haiti to visit
out sister parish with 15 students, conducted 20 student retreats,
traveled to Kentucky eight times with students to do Habitat for
Humanity work, opened and closed many of the graduation ceremonies at
Purdue, with prayer (I wasn't allowed to mention any diety), managed a
staff of 18, raised money and renovated many areas of the parish
building. It is good to be in Albuquerque at our most respected
ministry with Frs. Tom and George, both of whom work for me at Purdue.