He was educated at Alleman High School in Rock Island, Illinois, and earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Loyola University of Chicago.
[2] His first assignment as a priest was as parochial vicar at Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Bourbonnais, Illinois.
He later returned to the United States where he served as parochial vicar at St. Viator Parish in Chicago.
[2] He was ordained a bishop by Archbishop Luigi Pezzuto, the Apostolic Nuncio to Belize and the Antilles on May 5, 2012.
The principal co-consecrators were Bishops Dorick M. Wright of Belize City-Belmopan and Jacques Berthelet, C.S.V.