Meet Our Guides: Mr. Tommy Romano

I’m a fourth-generation Houstonian who grew up in a very large extended, Catholic family.  I first started considering a religious vocation in a serious way when I was a freshman in high school.  I was very involved with retreat programs in the Church and many of my friends and family members would often tell me, “you should be a priest.”  With the comments coming frequently enough, I figured I should probably give it some thought which I did during high school.  When I first enrolled in college I got into the academic routine and got lazy in the practice of my faith and the “call” sort of got lost in the shuffle of a more “worldly” life.

When I transferred to the University of St. Thomas and was once again immersed in a Catholic environment, the call to the priesthood and religious life once again surfaced.  Fortunately I had so many wonderful examples of happy, holy, priests to serve as an example of a life well-lived in God’s service.  I entered religious life with the Basilian Fahthers in my senior year in college.  Upon graduation, I was sent to teach high school in Merrilville, Indiana.  After that initial year, I applied for the Basilian Novitiate and was accepted.  While I eventually discerned that God was not calling me to the priesthood, I relish the three years I spent in religious formation.  It was, by far, the period of greatest spiritual growth in my life.  I also learned how to better listen to the call of God and found that my vocation was to live life as a single man, fully dedicated to serving others through education. 

Shortly after leaving the Basilian Fathers, God led me to a position with the theology faculty at Strake Jesuit, where I have been since 1993.  Over the years, God has continued to define the details of my vocation within my position at Strake Jesuit.  Aside teaching theology, one of the greatest joys of my life is working with young men in helping them to discern the call of God in their own lives.  I cannot begin to describe how blessed and privileged I am to accompany the pilgrims on their journey.  The pilgrimage is the realization of a dream that I have had for over twenty years: to lead a group of students on a pilgrimage to Rome.  Please keep me and all the pilgrims in your prayers.  We will definitely be carrying you and your intentions with us as we walk.