Bishop Nelson Perez

Rev. Wally Hyclak
Rev. Ryan Cubera
Deacon Richard A. Mueller
Deacon Andy Gonzalez
Sr. Jane Reisinger, SND

Rev. Frederick P. Pausche
Rev. Robert F. Pfeiffer
Rev. Gerald J. Bednar
Rev. Jerome Silayo
Rev. Andrew Knapik
Rev. Jeffrey M. Weaver
Rev. John G. Crawford
Rev. Michael G. Woost
Rev. Paul J. Wysocki
Rev. Robert Marva OFM Cap.
Rev. James D. Schorr
Rev. Michael A. Matusz

In the fall of 2017, I will enter IV Theology at St. Mary Seminary.  This past summer, I was on internship at St. Joseph Parish and Holy Spirit Parish in Avon Lake.  Living at the parish and getting involved in so many different ministries and activities allowed me to get a taste of “living ministry” for the first time.  And I must say, the entire experience was simply amazing.  I had the opportunity to meet and get to know so many wonderful parishioners and share the love of Christ with them.  It was a summer of challenge and growth, as well as affirmation that this is truly where God is calling me to be.  Please pray that I continue to follow His will wholeheartedly!  This year at the seminary, I have a full academic course-load.  In addition, I will be involved with jail ministry at the Cuyahoga County Jail.  Please pray for me in this ministry and for all those who are incarcerated.  Be assured of my prayers for all of you!

I grew up in Old Brooklyn (Cleveland) at what is now Mary Queen of Peace Parish and moved to Olmsted Falls at the beginning of high school.  As a young altar server I experienced a deep attraction towards the sacraments of the Church, specifically the celebration of the Eucharist, and I began to realize God's call to the priesthood.  Three years out of high school, I decided to come to the seminary.  This academic year (2017-2018) I am on a pastoral year at St. Ambrose Parish in Brunswick.  I am spending the year living in a rectory, working at the parish in the shadows of the priests that are there and continuing to discern the will of the Lord in my life.  I remain always grateful to St. Mary of the Falls parish for showing me how to be a faithful servant to the Lord in these seminary years thus far and I hope to be able to celebrate these blessings one day with the parish family as a priest.  In the meantime, pray for me that I may be eager to help those in need and give of myself to Jesus completely.  I continue to keep the parish in my prayers daily!

I am blessed to have grown up in Olmsted Falls.  I attended grade school here at St. Mary of the Falls and then Olmsted Falls High School where I graduated in 2006.  I was brought up in a Catholic household where prayer and the Eucharist were the center of our lives. The idea of priesthood and seminary first entered my mind in the fall of 2011. The idea never went away, even as I resisted and fought this thought for some two years.  I gave in to what God wanted for me and decided to visit the seminary.  I left that visit a changed man and knew then what God was calling me to do with my life.  I entered Borromeo Seminary in the fall of 2013 and graduated in May of 2017. I entered Borromeo with blind faith that God had control over my life and all my trust had been placed in Him.  And it is with that same blind faith that this fall I am continuing my studies at St. Mary Seminary, entering my first year of graduate work.  Looking back on my journey thus far, I am so blessed to have been given the opportunities to grow in greater relationship and love with our Lord.  He has blessed me with a heart for service.  I cannot wait to continue to see where this journey will take me. 

I have been a member of St. Mary of the Falls my entire life and it is truly a home to me.  I went through grade school at St. Mary of the Falls and the faith foundations I formed there prepared me well for St. Ignatius High School and now Borromeo Seminary.  At a very young age, I developed a deeper relationship with and an understanding of God through my Catholic education, but I didn’t begin thinking about Priesthood until my freshman year of high school.  I became very involved in our parish’s Life Teen program and began to take my faith more seriously.  We are blessed to have many seminarians at St. Mary of the Falls and the older seminarians impacted my discernment because it was through them that the idea of seminary came to my prayer.  These men served as great role models for me and made me think, “Maybe I’m called to this as well.”  With much prayer throughout high school I decided that the next step in my discernment process is to enter the seminary and I have been filled with the Joy of God in my formation.  I am excited to continue my second year of seminary formation and further discern God's will in my life.

Some of the fondest memories of my life have taken place at Saint Mary of the Falls.  Like a few of my fellow seminarians, I have lived in Olmsted Falls my entire life.  Although I was enrolled in the public school system, I spent much of my time as a youngster at Saint Mary’s, attending Pathfinders, PSR, and Life Teen.  I found great excitement in learning about the Lord at a young age, and I learned quickly through the staff of the Pathfinders summer camp, that living for the Lord is joyful.   During my years in high school, I attended Saint Mary of the Falls Life Teen. In Life Teen I was exposed to new kinds of prayer, devotions, and theology.   My faith in the Lord started to become very personal, and I developed a strong relationship with Him, and with the patron Saint of our parish, His Mother. Through prayer, the thought of applying to the seminary entered my mind at the time of my sophomore year of high school.  Like many other seminarians, when I first felt the urge to explore the idea of entering the seminary, I quickly attempted to ignore the quiet urging that was placed in my heart.  However, as I got closer to graduation, it was something I could no longer ignore.  I knew where I was being called, and even though I did not understand fully why I was being called to the seminary, I applied. I have since finished my first year of seminary formation. It was a year full of friendship, challenges, music, prayer, and multiple other blessings. I am excited to be in my second year of seminary formation as I walk with the Lord in discerning His call for my life. 

About 9 years ago, I started volunteering for the RCIA program at my parish.  Though I attended Catholic schools from kindergarten through 12^th grade, I quickly realized that there was so much about my faith I still didn’t know or understand.  Thus began my deep desire to know everything. In addition to reading a lot of books and participating in Catholic study programs, I also started attending young adult retreats hosted by the Sisters of Notre Dame.  Within each of those Sisters I couldn’t help but notice a sense of joy, trust, peace, and hope in our good God.  In 2012, I started to wonder if God could be calling me to religious life, but I continually pushed the thought aside.  In 2016, after four years of saying “No!” I realized that this desire wasn’t going away.  I started formally discerning with the Sisters of Notre Dame in August of 2016.  For half of 2017, I experienced what it is like to live in two different Notre Dame Convents.  Living with these 13 amazing women confirmed my desire to move forward.  I  officially became a Postulant in December of 2017.  In January of 2018, I will be moving to Covington Kentucky to work with our national Postulant director.  There I will attend theology classes at Xavier University, meet regularly with other young women who are in formation with other religious communities, spend some time in active ministry, and concentrate greatly on building a life of deep prayer and union with God.  Please pray for me, that I may be open to whatever God asks of me.  Know that I will keep my St Mary of the Falls family in my prayers.  God Bless!