At the time of writing this, it has been almost one year since I came to St. Francis Xavier parish here in Phoenix. I have lived in the Valley for the past 20-odd years, having moved here from Virginia when I was nine: just old enough to remember what it's like to have a true winter! I'm a cradle Catholic, and I even attended Catholic school back east before switching to public school when we moved to Arizona.

I drifted away from the Church in high school, and attended Arizona State University where I majored in Marketing, fully intending to continue on to law school. However, the summer before the last year of college, I was asked to start volunteering with the high school youth program at my home parish in Gilbert. This changed my life plan entirely as I found myself drawn to ministry despite my best efforts to resist it. It was during this time that I first encountered St. Ignatius, the Spiritual Exercises, and the Jesuits.