It is with enthusiasm that I begin my fourth year as Principal of Saint Finbar Parish School and twentieth year as an educator and administrator. Our school has an Early Fives Program, Kindergarten, and Grades One through Eight. We are proud of the challenging academic standards and enrichment classes offered to our students. At the core of the school’s program is our Catholic Faith, and students deepen their knowledge of Catholicism each day through religion classes. They also pray together as a class and school community on a daily basis.

My educational philosophy resembles an inverted pyramid. In this model the administrators (the smallest group) are on the bottom supporting the entire school community with the students being the most important (and largest) group on top. It is also very important that the students are surrounded by Christian role models thus the importance of building a Faith Community among the staff. Our teachers and staff recognize that by encountering the Lord through prayer, the Eucharist, and Christian Service, they in turn are able to model Jesus to the students. I believe that Catholic Schools flourish when they are viewed as a ministry of the larger parish community, and not some isolated entity. Parishioners should fill proud of, and support their parish school regardless of whether they have children in attendance.

I was born in New Jersey one of six children, attended Our Lady of Good Counsel Elementary School, Bergen Catholic High School, and Iona College (New Rochelle, NY). The Irish Christian Brothers, who ran the high school and college, had a tremendous influence on me and I was led by the charism of their Founder, Blessed Edmund Rice, to my career as an educator. During my education, I taught in East Harlem and Liberia, West Africa and had the pleasure of visiting an orphanage in Calcutta, India where I was introduced to Mother Theresa. After visiting California, and staying because of the beautiful landscape and weather, I started teaching in the Archdiocese Of Los Angeles in East Los Angeles, and received a Masters of Administration in Education from Mount Saint Mary’s College in Los Angeles. This was followed by positions of Principal at two other schools before coming to Saint Finbar.

I enjoy gardening, fishing, cooking, thoroughbred horses, Italian opera, and the music of Frank Sinatra. My brother is the Chairman of the Theatre Department at Loyola Marymount University, but the rest of my family lives in New York and Connecticut. It is a great blessing for me to travel to the east coast and spend time with my wonderful family (my parents, four sisters, and nine nieces and nephews).