Brother Raphael
I grew up on the northwest side of Chicago in a large family, attending St. Pascal and St. Monica Grammar Schools. During grammar school, I felt called to be a priest and registered at Quigley Minor Seminary. My parents attended church regularly and were very proud that I was considering priesthood; however, I changed my mind and attended Steinmetz High School.

Following graduation, I felt called to join a religious order as a Brother. While visiting an order, someone told me about Brother Mathias and gave me his address in Albuquerque. Following excellent spiritual direction, I wrote Brother Mathias and received a speedy response inviting me to join the Brothers of the Good Shepherd which I did in 1963

In 1964 I was sent to a newly opened home for adult men with developmental disabilities. (I did not know it, but Brother Mathias was testing me.) A year later I was called back to Albuquerque to attend nursing school--which I did not want to do. However, I returned, took first vows and enrolled in an LPN program. Upon expiration of my first vows and completion of the program, I told Brother Mathias I was not renewing my vows but would continue my nursing career. He said to me, “You’ll be back.”

Returning to Chicago I became an RN and worked in the medical intensive care unit of a large Chicago hospital until 1971, when I felt a call to return to the BGS. Again I wrote Brother Mathias. He sent me to Good Shepherd Manor in Momence, IL, another newly opened home for adult men with developmental disabilities.

After working at various BGS ministries throughout the United States, I was sent to law school and admitted to the New Mexico Bar in 1992. Then in 2003, I was sent for theological studies and ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2005.

Currently I serve as Director of Pastoral Care at Camillus House in Miami, FL overseeing the organization’s pastoral care program which is utilized by both clients and employees. Pastoral care allows a person in need to reflect upon, vocalize, and practice those values of spirituality that the person feels are needed to acquire, maintain or regain holistic well-being.

My greatest joy in being a Brother of the Good Shepherd is serving the poor. Jesus told us, “The poor you will always have with you.” In the U.S., the “poor” today refers mostly to those persons who suffer from addictions or mental illness and live without housing or medical care on the margins of society. It is my blessing and my task to remember always that, in serving the poor, I am serving Jesus himself. “What you do unto the least of my brothers, you do unto me.”