St. Mary of the Falls

I was born and raised in the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland and attended Murray Hill Public School.  I graduated from St. Joseph High School (which is now called Villa Angela/St. Joe’s) and then attended Borromeo & St. Mary’s Seminary.  I was ordained a priest on May 31, 1969 and my first parish assignment was to St. John Nepomucene from 1969-1974 in Slavic Village.  I was named the Assistant Director of CYO in 1974 and established the Lake-Geauga CYO office which is still alive and active today!  After working with CYO I was named the Director of Youth Ministry for the Diocese of Cleveland from 1976-1986.  During that time we worked on developing Retreat & Renewal programs for grade school & high school students.  We also worked on developing communities of Young Adults who worked in youth ministry and developed the position of youth minister and became involved in State & National Youth Ministry.  After this assignment came the biggest assignment I have ever had.  I became the Executive Director of the St. Joseph Christian Life Center for more than two decades.  Over the course of my 21 year tenure at the Christian Life Center, I worked with my team to continually develop and expand meaningful programs that met the needs of the individuals who sought comfort and spiritual enlightenment at the facility.  The Life Center’s mission statement was a promise to its patrons to “Connect God, Life and You”.  During my time there I was the morning drive-time Host of WMIH radio for two years and I developed the Five-day Mission/Parish Renewal that took me to parished in the diocese as well as preaching across the United States.  The Mission annually touched 8-10,000 people. 

In 2008 I was named Pastor of St. Mary of the Falls Church in Olmsted Falls and have been abundantly blessed by the parishioners, staff and the wonderful people that come through this parish each and every day.  I continue to pray for and work with the people of the parish and look forward to my years ahead.  There is a phrase that I try to live my life by and have developed that has stuck with me throughout my ministry.  It’s a phrase I use as a signature to anything I do.  That phrase is “One more day, God’s way.”