I'm from Kilcock, County Kildare in Ireland. I've spent 24 years in pastoral music, across four placements: St. Pete Beach, Tampa, Atlanta and Los Angeles. In Atlanta, at the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, I was hired for the music. Over twelve years I ended up working in music, liturgy and outreach. I reported directly to the pastor, who was a trusted partner and dreamer in ministry.
Some of my work happened outside the building. I founded the Atlanta Homeward Choir, an arts organization for people the rest of the city or world overlooked. We worked with shelters and centers across the region, and men, women and young people experiencing homelessness sang together. I raised the money to keep it going for more than twelve years. Then I helped build a network of eight organizations doing similar work in other cities, and served as its president for two years.
What I care about is simple. A person learns they matter by being needed, not by being told. Every program I've built starts there, and the music was always the way in. I live now on the Upper West Side of New York City with my spouse and our older terrier mix named Andy, who is not famous, but is very known. I'm looking for the next place to build something.