Meet Our Seminarians

I was born in Napa Valley, California as the seventh of seven straight sons my parents had in a row. After me, we welcomed my beautiful sister into the world. So my dad likes to say that he had all girls…except for the first seven! Besides a great sense of humor, I received a strong faith and a great education in the teachings of the Church through my family and schooling. 

The love of God broke into my life and heart in a deeper and more personal way, however, when I attended a prayer group led by the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit in the summer of 2016. I had moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 2011, and was attending the University of Dallas at the time. The prayer group was on the Gila River Indian Reservation at St. John the Baptist parish. 

It happened like this: The Friars asked me what I wanted prayers for. I told them I wanted whatever the Holy Spirit wanted to give me. Right when they started praying, the Holy Spirit gifted me with a new and powerful experience of God’s personal love for me. In response to this great gift, I began to seek God through prayer and fasting. The Lord continued to bless my willingness to push through discomfort to worship and seek Him. I eventually decided that I wanted to spend my life sharing the love of God as his instrument. I realized that the adventures of a life led by the Holy Spirit are more exciting and fulfilling than anything else. 

After finishing college and working for two years, I discerned more intentionally with the Friars and was impressed with their relatability, fire, and mission. God has blessed my time as a Franciscan Friar of the Holy Spirit more than any other time in my life, and I am so excited to pursue final vows and the priesthood with them.

I was raised in Mckinney, TX, went to church on Sundays, and was a half decent kid who really liked baseball, cars, and other things besides the celibate priesthood.  My Catholic education growing up formed me well, but it was all just facts and information to regurgitate for a grade just like any other class.  As I was finishing high school going onto Texas A&M University, I was debating what my major would be, and by the end of my freshman year I had decided it would be in partying.  A year later, by some miracle after being left high and dry emotionally and spiritually I was just desperate enough to go back to confession and make a new start.  Immediately after receiving the mercy of the sacrament the Lord gifted me with the grace of a vocation, and I wanted nothing more than to serve him.  Being the Gen Z’er that I am, I romantically found the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit on the internet when “vocation shopping,” and was immediately hooked.  The zeal and devotion of these men who I would actually want to be friends with was inspirational on my visits before entering.  I entered and received the religious name “Damien” in December 2021 after St. Damien of Molokai, who was the leper priest to Native Americans in Hawaii and if I become half the man he was, I’d be happy to call myself a priest.