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 students opportunities to encounter God in an incarnational, sacramental, and Christological experience of creation and 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!