Southern Dominican Province Novices
Brian Kirk (left)
Brian, of Houston, Texas, is 37 years old. He obtained his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996 and his M.A. in Human Resources Management from the University of Houston in 2003. Brian most recently served as Senior HR Generalist at Seton Catholic Medical Center in Austin, Texas. Brian met the Dominican Friars at his family's home parish of Holy Rosary Church in Houston where he was inspired by the Dominican's charism to praise, to bless, and to preach.
Steffano Montano (center)
Steffano, of Miami, Florida, is 27 years old. He obtained his B.A. in Political Science from Florida International University in 2007 and his M.A. in Practical Theology from Barry University in 2011. He is of Cuban decent and as a child was able to learn English and Spanish simultaneously thanks to Sesame Street and his abuelos. For the past two years, Steffano served as the coordinator of the De Porres Center for Community Service at Barry University, a Dominican university in Miami, where he enjoyed providing the students there with opportunities to both serve the needy in the community and reflect on their relationship with God and others through this service. He met the Dominicans at Barry and fell in love with the pillars of the order: prayer, community, study, and preaching.
Carl Paustian (right)
Carl, of Houston, Texas, is 23 years old. He obtained a B.S. in Biology from Texas A&M University in 2009 and has done graduate coursework in Biotechnology at Texas A&M, as well. For the past year, Carl has worked at the St. Mary's Catholic Student Center, which serves the nearly 13,000 Catholic students at Texas A&M University. The Dominican's mission of preaching "veritas" - truth - and the variety of ministries of the Friars Preachers was a huge attraction to the Order for Carl. Although from the Southern Dominican Province, he is thrilled to be spending the Novitiate year in San Francisco with the Western Dominican Province.
