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Pastorjlijanacdlex.orgRoots
I am a cradle Catholic, born and raised in Brook Park, OH a suburb of Cleveland. As a child of middle-class parents and growing up in a blue-collar town, I absorbed and retained the values and ethics that permeate communities like Brook Park.
Education
After High School I joined the Army to earn money for college. I served three years which included a year in Italy, and my experiences in the military helped prepare me for college.
I graduated debt free from The Ohio State University in 1993 with a BS in Operations Management. As a “captain of industry” I worked in the trucking industry. After a few promotions and transfers, I ended up living in Memphis, Tn. While there, I attended the MBA program at the University of Memphis and graduated in 2003. Sometime later, I was certified as a six-sigma green belt by the Association of Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS).
Faith
My family would not be considered devout Catholics and while in the Army, I began to drift away from the faith and my Catholic identity was nowhere to be seen by the time I entered the university in Ohio. I was living in Memphis when I felt pulled (pushed?) back into my faith with a hunger to learn more of its richness and beauty. During this time, my employer transferred me to Lexington, KY and as I pondered how I was to live out my faith, I discerned to enter priesthood. I entered seminary at the young age of 46 and was ordained in 2016 at the age of 51.
Priesthood
Ordained in 2016, my first assignment was to the Cathedral of Christ the King in Lexington. I served there for 16 months and then moved to Beattyville, KY to become pastor of Queen of All Saints Church. After 3 ½ years there, I was asked to come to Good Shepherd Parish in Frankfort, KY. So, I am still considered a “new” priest, however I began my priesthood with a boatload of life experience.
