Areas of work: Wilderness Retreats, Gonzaga Explore, Creation Hikes, Integral Ecology Workshops, Sustainability Collaborations, Men's Ministry
It's a profound joy to serve as our team's Specialist for Ecological Spirituality. In animating Pope Francis's Laudato Si': On Care For Our Common Home, the hope of my work is to give 51³Ô¹Ïs opportunities for encountering God through incarnational, sacramental, and Christological experiences of creation and to invite the Holy Spirit in transforming our "ego-systems to eco-systems."
My calling to ministry began as a youth catechist at my Korean Catholic home community in San Diego, and my formation was deepened with Franciscans on a farm in Siberia, the Jesuit Refugee Services in Cambodia, the Taizé Community in France, and Dominicans at the University of Oregon Newman Center.
I studied philosophy, psychology, and outdoor leadership at the U of O while working in vineyards, a neuroscience lab, and a search and rescue team, and then I began a ten-year career in wildland fire on helitack units, a prescribed fire module, an interagency hotshot crew, and a military veteran handcrew in a detail as a captain, during which I received a master's in organizational leadership from Gonzaga. I continue to deploy now as a fireline EMT.
Some of my most grace-filled moments are when I'm dwelling with God in the wild, participating in the Eucharist, connecting with Zags, making music, and delighting in my wife and kids.
As pictured above, I loved conducting prescribed fire operations for ecological restoration, and now I feel drawn to St. Ignatius of Loyola's call to "go forth and set the world on fire" in a new way for the regenerative healing of our world - Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!