Brennen McCoy

Saint Mary's Seminary and University
Saint Charles Borromeo University

I am the oldest of 4 children.  I have two younger sisters and a younger brother.  I grew up in Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Hamilton, New Jersey.  I encountered the Lord at an early age in middle school and that relationship continued to develop as I went to the local Catholic high school.  After spending a lot of time in the school chapel and talking with my pastor I felt that I was being called to be a priest.  I entered seminary at the age of 18 and went to St. Charles Borromeo in Philadelphia.  There I spent four years studying philosophy and learning how live the Christian life more fully and maturely with my brother seminarians with whom I shared a wonderful fraternity.  After that experience and graduating, it became clear that I needed to spend some time away from seminary to do a deeper discernment of my vocation.  After leaving St. Charles, I moved to Victoria, VA near Farmville and lived near my family in that area.  I spent some years working for the local sheriff’s office, and hunting, fishing, and beekeeping with my cousins.  After that period, I felt that as nice as my life there was, the Lord was calling me to serve him in a different way and to return to the seminary.  So, I first spent a year assigned to Holy Comforter in Charlottesville and after the completion of my time there, the bishop asked me to study Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore.