Alumni NewsCenter

Andrew Schulman (MA ’24) works as the Marketing and Advancement Director for St. Mary’s Parish and St. Mary’s Parish School (preschool–8) and teaches Latin at St. Mary’s High School in Westfield, MA. He also cantors and directs the choir for Our Lady of the Valley (Easthampton, MA), plays classical guitar in a local guitar orchestra, and leads reading groups for the Catherine Project.

Fr. Stephen Castellano, MIC (STB/MDiv ’24) serves as a novice master for his community in Steubenville, Ohio.

Zachary Beckman (MA ’22) serves as the Director of Religious Education at St. Michael Catholic Church in Annandale, VA. The OCIA program at St. Michael’s has boomed since he started as Director!

Urban Hannon (STB ’21) completed his STL at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the “Angelicum”) in Rome in 2023. He is currently pursuing an STD at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. 

Fr. John Poodts (STB/MDiv ’21) is the Director of the Newman Center at Oregon State University.

Katherine Brizek (MA ’21) is currently pursuing a PhD in History at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her research focus is transatlantic Catholic intellectual history and Global Christianity.

Karim Obagi (MA ’21) is the Executive Director of Development for Thomas Aquinas College. He and his wife have 5 children. 

Molly Egilsrud (MA ’21) is pursuing a PhD at the Catholic University of America in Moral Theology/Ethics. Her dissertation, “A Heart to Believe: St. Thomas Aquinas on the Theological Virtue of Faith,” is directed by Dr. David Elliot, the Grace P. Hobelman Chair in Catholic Moral Theology. As a teaching fellow, she teaches undergraduates in the theology program at CUA. She also regularly presents at conferences, mostly recently at the Sacra Doctrina Project and the Ave Maria Aquinas Conference.

Elly Long (MA ’20, nee Brown) has been appointed assistant professor of political theory at the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin. Elly and her husband celebrated the birth of their first child, a daughter, Abigail, in 2024. 

Anthony Cannatella (MA ’20) earned his JCL at the Catholic University of America and is currently a teacher and canonist in Chatham, New Jersey. 

Matthew DuBroy (STD ’20) recently founded (launched December 2025) the Aquinas Institute for Christian Perfection, which offers formation in the spiritual life for laypeople and families grounded in the spiritual theology of the Dominican Thomistic tradition (Aquinas, Garrigou-Lagrange, Royo Marin, Arintero, Merkelbach). The Institute primarily provides a year-long House of Formation program for the laity, aimed at making the rich wisdom of our tradition accessible to busy adults and parents. He is married with five children​ (Thomas, Dominic, Thérèse, Catherine, Avila), two of whom were born after he graduated from the DHS, and ​he continues to live in the Cleveland area.

In 2023, Lai Wei (Joshua) (MA ’19) became a Chartered Financial Analyst in the CFA institute. Just last year, he earned another master’s degree in econometrics from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. He is currently based in Shanghai, China.

Dom Alban Baker (STB/STL ’16) serves as chaplain to the Third Order of the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem, which has 35 members.

The Master of the Order appointed Fr. Patrick Mary Briscoe, O.P. (STB ’15; MDiv ’16) as General Promoter of Social Communication on Sept. 4, 2025. Fr. Patrick will reside at Santa Sabina and work closely with the Master and the General Curia. His mission will include supporting Dominican provinces, vice-provinces, and vicariates in their communication efforts, fostering collaboration throughout the Dominican Order, and helping shape a global strategy for preaching through media.

Jonathan Elliot (MA ’15) farms full time with his wife in Marshall, VA. At their farm “Living Pastures,” they raise 100% grass-fed beef, pasture-raised chicken, and pasture-raised pork. Jonathan continues to write; he contributed an essay to the 2025 publication, A Chorus of Faith: A Festschrift in Honor of Vigen Guroian. Jonathan and his wife have four children.

Fr. David Patrick Begany, SSJ (MDiv ’14) serves as the pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Baytown, TX. He recently rediscovered his love of fishing!

After graduating from the DHS, Fr. Daniel Hanley (STL ’14) earned his S.T.D. at the Angelicum. He is now a seminary formator at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Rother House of Formation.

Joshua H. Lim (MA ’14) earned his PhD in theology at Notre Dame in the History of Christianity. His dissertation was directed by Joseph Wawrykow. After graduating from Notre Dame in 2020, he taught at Thomas Aquinas College (both in California and in New England) until 2024. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He has published several articles in Modern Theology and the Thomist, as well as a translation of Fr. Serge-Thomas Bonino’s ‘Dieu celui qui est’: De Deo ut uno with CUA Press. Joshua was married in 2016, and he and his wife now have five children (ages 8-1).

Father Albert Duggan, O.P. (STB/MDiv ’13) has been appointed president of the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology. 

Fr. Michele Benetti (STB ’13) teaches Theology and Physics in Boston.

Fr. Ambrose Little. O.P. (STB/MDiv ’12) was appointed the director of the Thomistic Institute. 

Sr. Lai Thi Diem Trinh, O.P. (MA ’11) completed her Bachelor of Science at Aquinas College. She is now a full-time lecturer at Assumption University in Bankok, Thailand. 

Melanie Baker (MA ’11) currently serves as the Director of Adult Faith Formation at St. Patrick’s in Rockville, MD.

Just after graduating from the DHS, Fr. Jim McCormack was ordained a priest for his congregation. (STB/MDiv ’10) He continued his studies at the Claretianum and earned his STL in 2013. He served as novice master for his community for 10 years, and now teaches at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, CA.

Dawn Eden Goldstein (MA ’10, STB ’13, STL ’14) was the first woman to earn her Doctorate of Sacred Theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake. She also earned her JCL from the Catholic University of America. She is currently the Director of the Tribunal of the Diocese of Bridgeport and is working on her eighth book. Among her written works, she is most proud of Father Ed: The Story of Bill W.’s Spiritual Sponsor (Orbis Books, 2022), which won a Christopher Award.