As a Catholic minister, after I completed my five years of study, done
through a combination of correspondence, online and attendance at St.
Borromeo Seminary (here in Cleveland), while during the same five years
working as a lay minister for the Catholic Church.  After all that, then I
was ordained, in Decembber, 1994.  As a Catholic Minister, through a special
dispensation of the Pope, I can be married and have a family.  I am in a
position higher than a Deacon, but slightly lower than a priest.  I perform
baptisms, celebrate mass, preside at First Communions, hear confessions,
absolve sinners, bring communion, compassion and a sympathetic ear to the
sick (they can't tell me anything I don't personally know about), say funeral
masses, marriages, etc.

 My very first, official act after being formally ordained last December was
the saddest act of my life, I had to preside at the funeral mass of my
closest friend, who had won his release from the pain of cancer..    I am on
the Chaplaincy staff at a large local hospital, and I am also just beginning
to work on a new assignment that I requested as Catholic minister to a local
prison.

I have been told over and over to slow down, and just last week, my primary
physician asked me how I can keep going, considering how serious my
disabilities are.  My reply is that I was blessed by God when he gave me all
these disabilities so that I could understand what others are going through,
and I really can empathize with them.   God also allows me the grace to wake
up each morning and to continue His work.  When He finally calls me, I will,
I hope, have offered some hope to others in similar situations.  I also hope
that I have been able to, in some small way, make a change for the better in
this world.