Roman Catholic family of four children. Educated at St. Thomas Elementary School, Newport

Central Catholic High School, and the University of Dayton, Brian received an education rooted in

gospel values. He holds a B.A. from UD in Religious Studies with a minor in Social Work. Brian

developed a passion for abolition work after beginning to study the inequities of capital

punishment while a student at the University of Dayton. He attended his first prayer vigil outside

of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, site of Ohio's Death Row, for the

execution of Wilfred Berry. Brian was profoundly moved by that experience and was affirmed in

his commitment to end state sanctioned execution.

Brian worked closely with the Center for Social Concern as a student intern and eventually

completing certifications in Community Service and Leadership and Lay Ministry. While at

the university, Brian met the Marianist Brothers and Priests, who own and minister at the

University of Dayton. He became intrigued by their spirit and life and enrolled as a Contact of the

community. Upon graduation in 1999, he entered the Aspirancy program to begin a process of

formation with the Society of Mary (Marianists). This program was based in Cleveland, Ohio in an

urban African American community setting. While in this program Brian once again was catch off

guard by the inequities of our criminal justice system and how our culture quickly dismisses those

different than ourselves. After further discernment Brian left the community to live and work on his

own for a time, all the while, still discerning a call to religious life.

For the last two and half years, Brian was employed with the Roman Catholic Diocese of

Cleveland, working in the areas of Religious Education and Technology and residing in

Lakewood, Ohio. During this time, he became active with the Marianist Social Justice

Collaborative (MSJC); a newly formed organization made up of men, woman, and lay members of

the Marianist family, to cohesively work at Social Justice concerns of our community and the

larger Church. The MSJC began with four issues, Racism, Sweatshop/Child Labor, Central

America, and Ecology. Several members of the MSJC expressed a concern to work on the

abolition of the Death Penalty.

In July of 2000, the MSJC steering committee official approved the foundation of a Death Penalty

Issue team, which held its first face-to-face meeting in April of 2001. Brian was appointed as chair

of the issue team. The issue team has well developed goals and strategies, one of which is that

they work with other abolition movements and not create their own spin at the effort. This past

April at the teams second annual meeting they made a clear commitment to work at the issue

more closely by fostering relationships and supporting more closely murder victims family

members who foster a belief in reconciliation and healing from violence. They believe that this

approach is closely connected to their mission rooted in the gospel and the Social Teachings of

the Catholic Church.

Currently, Brian is a novice with the Society of Mary (Marianists) living in formation community in

Dayton, Ohio. As a novice, he is preparing to profess religious vows of chastity, poverty and

obedience to be a religious brother and a member of the Marianist community. This is a two-year

process before temporary profession. He also continues to chair the Death Penalty Issue Team

for the MSJC, which has been working in the last several months on educational components and

programs for the close to thirty Marianist High Schools across the United States to complement

theological teachings on the respect and dignity of the human person. Most recently Brian has

acquired a student intern from the University of Dayton to assist the issue team in building a faith

based online curriculum to assist Catholic theology teachers on this very important social justice

issue. Brian was delighted to have developed a relationship with Journey of Hope through Bill

Pelke and George White at a recent MSJC gathering titled Exaltation of Voices, held on the

campus of St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas. Bill and George spoke to youth and

young adults from our Marianist High Schools, Parishes and Universities who had gathered to

learn more about the MSJC issue teams and their struggle to overcome obstacles of injustice in

our world.