I am the youngest of five siblings. My parents were both from the town of Lucban, Quezon in the Philippines. They are both deceased now. My father came from a farming family but was able to study to become a civil engineer. When he immigrated to the U.S., civil engineering became his line of work until he retired. My mother finished high school in the Philippines and was the one who stayed at home to tend to the needs of the family. She managed to do some sideline work as a babysitter.

After my father managed to petition the rest of the family to come to the U.S., we settled on the Northwest Side of Chicago—the Albany Park neighborhood—and we became members of the parish of St. Edward. I am a product of the Chicago Public School system, having attended CPS throughout elementary and high school. After high school, I entered the seminary system and completed my bachelor’s degree through Niles College Seminary and continued on to the major seminary of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, IL. I was ordained in 1996.

Since ordination, I have had six assignments prior to coming to St. Julie. I served at St. Pascal in the Irving Park neighborhood as associate pastor (1996—2000), St. Isaac Jogues in Niles, IL as associate pastor (2000—2003), the parishes of St. Francis of Assisi/Our Lady of the Angels and St. Peter Canisius, both in the Austin neighborhood, as pastor of both parishes (2003—2007), associate pastor at St. Bartholomew in the Portage Park neighborhood (2007—2012), pastor of St. Thomas of Canterbury in Uptown (2012—2016), and pastor of St. Margaret Mary in West Ridge (2016—2020). St. Julie is now my seventh assignment as a priest and my fourth time as a pastor.

What people will eventually come to know about me is that I am a huge Star Wars fan and have been since I was about seven years old. I also do a good amount of bike riding and have already found some of the bike trails in this area. When I am unable to bike ride, I do a little running and I have actually run the Chicago marathon twice.

I am looking forward to the years I will serve as pastor of St. Julie. As I have mentioned on various occasions, every Catholic parish ought to fulfill two mandates—to pray well and to teach the faith. I am excited to share our faith lives with one another, growing and learning through our various life experiences and even the cultural expressions of our common faith.