Fr. John

My blogs

Gender	Male
Industry	Religion
Occupation	Catholic priest/Franciscan Friar
Location	St. Petersburg, Florida, United States
Introduction	I come originally from Boston, MA and entered the Franciscan college seminary after finishing high school in 1962.I professed my first vows as a friar in 1964 and was ordained to the priesthood on May 22, 1971. I earned an MA in religious education from Catholic U. in Washington, DC in 1974, and received a graduate certificate in homiletics (preaching) from Aquinas Institute in St. Louis, MO in 1992. In the early years of my ministry I taught high school and then served in various churches and parishes in NY and NJ. I was involved in the marriage encounter movement at that time, something which enriched my priesthood and gave me many life long friends. I served as a missionary in Bolivia for three years, thus I speak Spanish. I speak Italian as well. Since 1987 I have been an itinerant preacher. I have preached over 500 missions in both English and Spanish and have given several retreats for priests and sisters as well. Also, Since 2016 I have been a preacher with Unbound (See Unbound.org) My home base is St. Anthony Friary in St. Petersburg, FL
Interests	Contemporary Catholic Church affairs, questions of religion in general, but especially the relation between religion and science, sports, espcially teams from Boston, movies, bicycle riding and visiting trolley car museums.