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BY JENNIFER WILLIAMS
jwilliams@catholicreview.org
After three years serving as asso-ciate pastor of St. Jane
Frances de Chantal, Pasadena, Father Brian P.
Nolan has been appointed by Arch-bishop Edwin F. O’Brien as
campus chaplain and director of campus min-istry for Mount St.
Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, effective June 1.
The 37- year- old priest, whose first assignment after his
2001 ordination was as associate pastor of St. John,
Westminster, said he has enjoyed par-ish ministry.
“ From school children and teach-ers to the elderly, I’ve
become part of their family and they’ve become part of my
family, and that’s always hard to leave,” he said. Father Nolan,
who grew up in the parish of St. Louis, Clarksville, attended
Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, and said he is excited to return to
the campus.
“ It’s a place I have a great love for, and I also have a
great love for young adults,” said Father Nolan, who was also a
campus minister for McDaniel College, Westminster, while serving
at St. John.
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He said he enjoys working with young adults as they explore
diffi-cult questions such as “ How can I live out my faith among
all of these challenges?” Father Nolan, who attended Tow-son
University, said it was a priest at a nearby college who had the
greatest influence on him and helped answer those questions for
him as a young adult. He and a group of 10 to 15 peo-ple would
gather after Mass and talk about the faith. Of the group, one
person became a Jesuit priest, one became a Dominican priest,
Father Nolan became a diocesan priest and several couples were
married.
“ Having had that guidance, I was thinking if I could be
involved with young adults and help them take a step forward
wherever God is leading them, it would be wonderful to give them
that gift as well,” he said. Father Nolan, who said he feels he
has a special gift and call to serve young adults, said the
first thing he will do in his new position is take some time to
appreciate the pro-grams already established at Mount St.
Mary’s.
The priest, who enjoys presenting the Catholic faith to young
people in a creative and attractive way, said he thinks he will
contribute, “ a joy-ful presence, a love for my Catholic faith,
a love for young people and an appreciation for how our faith
can be part of us.” |