Fr. Brian Nunes

Born: Inglewood.
Education: St. Joseph School, Placentia; Servite High School, Anaheim; Loyola Marymount University(B.A. in communications).

Prior occupations: Publishing (news wire copy editor, tech support), classical record company.
Home parish: St. Augustine, Culver City.
Transitional Diaconate: St. Augustine; Holy Cross, Moorpark.
First Mass as priest: June 1, 5 p.m., St. Augustine.
First Assignment: Mary Star of the Sea, San Pedro.

"I wanted to commit myself to a life of service, and I could think of no better service than becoming a priest. My inspiration for Church work began with simply volunteering to help run the sound for a Life Teen band at Holy Family Church in Glendale back in 1996, and one thing led to another. But I recall even as a boy wanting to look through the Sacramentary [Roman Missal] the priest used for saying Mass. The barber my parents took me to as a kid has also reminded me that he used to ask my brother and me, which one of us would become a priest. Perhaps that too was a seed that was planted, and just needed time to grow."

More About Fr. Nunes: 

Fr. Brian Nunes is a native Angeleno and the oldest of four children. He was born in Inglewood, but by the age of 3 he was living in Yorba Linda, a little town in Orange County. He attended Catholic school his whole life, and remembers being encouraged to be a priest by the sisters who taught him in elementary school, but growing up he wanted to work in broadcasting. After graduating from Loyola Marymount University with a bachelors degree in communications, Brian pursued a career in print journalism. He worked at several publications until he landed a job at Business Wire, a news wire service, where he stayed almost 12 years. During that time he found he was also good with computers, and transitioned into technical support and network administration. 

Brian soon found computer work unsatisfying and started wondering what else he should do. Not long afterward, it occurred to him that maybe he should become a priest, but he rejected that idea because he was sure that God must have wanted someone else, someone younger, someone holier. However, the idea kept coming back to him, and so after a few years he decided to call the Vocations Office and look into what being a priest was all about. 

Brian was struck by the notion that all priests didn't have to look alike or come from the same "cookie-cutter mold," and decided that perhaps God was calling him after all. He is convinced that his priestly ministry involves outreach to people who feel unwelcome or left out by the Church, and wants to invite them to reconsider God, the same way that he himself ended up reconsidering the priesthood.