My full name is Brian Joseph Crawford (maybe my parents had an inkling about my religious calling right from the get-go with that middle name!). I was born on June 15, 1964, in Toul Rosiere en Hauge, France, on a US Air Force Base. My father, Thomas Joseph Crawford (there is that middle name again!) was in the Air Force and had been married to my mother, June Raines Crawford, for almost 10 years at that point…and they already had three sons! That is correct, I am the fourth son, somewhat in the middle. In fact, considering my birthdate, which is in the middle of the middle month and was born around noon in the middle of the day…well, I tend towards the middle!

After me, another brother and my little sister (finally, a girl) were born, bringing the number of children to 6. In order (with year and place of birth): James Patrick (Columbus, OH, 1957), Kevin Thomas (Columbus, OH, 1959), Sean Michael (Waco, TX, 1962), me!, Timothy Colin (Columbus, OH, 1966) and Sheila Ann (Wichita, KS, 1968). Yes, my mother is from the Columbus area and that is where my father (from the Bronx, NYC) met and married her. Before I came onboard, my family had lived in various places as my father raised up through the ranks of the Air Force. Once I came on we lived in the following places: France (3 years), Columbus (1 year), Wichita (1 year), Forth Worth, TX (four years), Montgomery, AL (1 year), St. Louis, MO (four years) and Sacramento, CA (three years). I attended six different elementary schools beginning in TX and ending in MO: from Kinder to fourth in public schools and fifth to eighth in Catholic schools. Upon reaching Sacramento, my parents enrolled me at Jesuit High School in Carmichael and it was there that I first heard of the Oblates of St. Joseph.

When I first thought of the possibility of being called to the priesthood, I did not know of the Oblates of St. Joseph. In fact, it was a diocesan priest, Fr. Jim Mitulski, of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, who first brought up the idea to me. He was the parochial vicar at our parish, St. Bernadette, where I also attended school, and he asked me if I thought God was calling me to be a priest. The truth is, the idea had never entered my mind. After that, however, I became convinced at the age of 12 that God was calling me to be a priest…and, of course, a diocesan priest since Fr. Jim was one of those. I did not really know of the differences between a religious order priest and a diocesan priest. I just thought all priests professed vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and lived together in a community. This describes actually more the life of a religious order priest, which indicates that right from the beginning God was calling me to that vocation…I just did not realize it.
 
So, how did I come into contact with the OSJ? The United States Air Force made it possible! Sound absurd? Hear me out. The fact is that the OSJ are nowhere near St. Louis, MO. We at that time and even today where in two of the fifty states: Pennsylvania and California. I am not sure if one could get further away from those two states and still be within the continental USA than to be in St. Louis! So, God got me to California and he used the USAF to accomplish it. My father was transferred to Sacramento, CA, and we lived at the former Mather AFB, while my father worked at the AFPRO at Aerojet. My parents enrolled me in Jesuit High School, as I mentioned previously, and I arrived at my sophomore year still saying I was going to be a priest. My father, unconvinced of my call, suggested I look into getting into a high school seminary program so I could get this out of my system! (He revealed this to me later, not at the tender age of 16!) The Diocese of Sacramento had discontinued their high school seminary but lo and behold, the Oblates still had a program at their house in Loomis, Mt. St. Joseph. So, on June 14, 1980, my father drove me up to the Mount…and I fell in love with the place! I knew almost instantly that God wanted me to be here, though not necessarily to become an Oblate. In fact, it was agreed between Fr. John Warburton and my father, that I would come up to the Mount for the high school program just to see what seminary was like and then would transfer to the Diocese of Sacramento college program after. God, clearly, had other plans!
After my first year at the Mount, my junior year, my father was transferred yet again, and this time to Andrews AFB in Washington DC. Not exactly nearby! My parents agreed to let me stay at the Mount in order to finish my high school studies at Jesuit and then go on to bigger and brighter things. However, after that Senior year experience, for various reasons, it had become apparent to me that God was calling me to be an OSJ (My father claimed “brainwashing” but not the case!). So, I applied for the postulancy program and was accepted, this formally beginning my formation as an Oblate of St. Joseph. On then to Sierra College and my years of higher learning!

Below: Fr. Brian as Prince Shalom of the Kingdom of Atonement in one of the Mount's skits, May 1981 
My formation with the Oblates of St. Joseph began in earnest with my entrance into postulancy at Mt. St. Joseph in August of 1982. I attended classes at Sierra College in Rocklin (Wolverine for life! Well, at least two years…) and received further formation from my formator, Fr. Phil Massetti, OSJ (yes, that one!). I then entered the novitiate, still at Mt. St. Joseph, under my Novice Master, Fr. Larry Toschi, accompanied by three other men from CA, and five from Mexico. My novitiate year (July ’84 to July ’85) was the most special and important year of my life. I not only was made ready to make my first profession of vows but I also fell completely in love with the charism and spirituality of the OSJ and with our founder St. (then Venerable) Joseph Marello. When I made my first profession of vows at the Mount on July 30, 1985, I remember being so blessed and proud to be able to put the initials, O.S.J., behind my name for the first time. Very blessed to have been called to be an Oblate of St. Joseph.
 Having received my AA degree from Sierra, I now transferred to the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (DSPT…which sort of sounds like a gas additive!) to receive my Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. When asked to describe my experience of studying philosophy for two years, I often say I had a headache the entire time! However, under the guidance of my director, Fr. Siro Dal Degan, OSJ (RIP), I was able to get my degree and complete the first part of studies toward ordination to the priesthoodl
First, though, it was time to take a break from schooling. After all, I had been in school from the age of 5, nearly 20 years! So, I was allowed to do a pastoral year experience at St. Mary’s Church in Sacramento as Bro. Brian. Not only was it nice to not have to go to classes and take exams, it was also great to be able to work with my confreres and the laity of the parish in the spirit of St. Joseph and St. Joseph Marello under the patronage of our Blessed Mother. I was a catechist, eighth grade religion teacher, assistant sacristan…well, you get the picture. The people of St. Mary’s have always been very special and continue to be very special for me, both because of that experience and because before being ordained my parents became parishioners, upon my father’s retirement from the Air Force. At the end of that pastoral year, I was blessed to be able to make my solemn perpetual profession there at St. Mary’s with the participation of my entire family (my sister took the opportunity with the family being together to get married as well!...though not at St. Mary’s and not during the same ceremony!)
 
Having made perpetual vows, it was now time to finish my studies for ordination, which meant four years of graduate school and a MA in Theology. I assumed I would be going back to Berkeley, but God had other plans…Roma, the Eternal City, beckoned!

After having spent my pastoral year at St. Mary’s Parish in Sacramento, it was time to begin my four years of theological studies in preparation for my ordination to the priesthood. However, there was one hitch in the plan of returning to the DSPT in Berkeley…there was nobody else to be in the House of Studies with me! Ever since I began my formation back at Mt. St. Joseph in 1980, there had always been at least one other man with me in formation but none of them had continued and now there was one. Being alone in the house with only my director was not considered a good choice so it was necessary for me to go elsewhere. 
 
The first thought was for me to go to do my studies in our Province in Mexico. It would be good for me both because I had been with some of the Mexican confreres during my novitiate and it would improve my knowledge and practice in the Spanish language. However, the Superior General informed my Provincial at that time, Fr. Arnold Ortiz (you all remember him, right?), that he wanted me to come to Rome and study with the other students at our International House of Studies (not IHOP but IHOS!). So, in August of 1988, I was sent to Rome and began my studies at the Dominican school there, the Angelicum, while residing at our IHOS. Though the original plan was for me to stay all four years, after the first two, there were now two young men who were ready to begin their philosophy studies at our house in Berkeley and so I was allowed to return (Hallelujah!) for my final two years back at the DSPT. This allowed me to have a very unique experience of theology studies: all with the Dominicans, but in two very different settings, Rome and Berkeley…not sure there could be more different places to study! 
 
So it was that I was ordained a priest for the Oblates of St. Joseph on June 13, 1992, at St. Mary’s Parish in Sacramento. It was a very special and blessed day and I am very thankful to God for calling me to such a wonderful and challenging vocation. Now it was time to start living that vocation to the full!  
My first assignment as priest was to Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Bakersfield, CA, which had just been assigned to us, the OSJ, by the bishop of the Diocese of Fresno. I was there for a year and it was a great experience of parish life…and the only one I was to have on a regular basis until my assignment here at St. Joseph Marello in Granite Bay! This was because after this year, all of my other assignments were to internal positions in the Congregation: director of students at the House of Studies now moved from Berkeley to Oxnard (1993-96); vocation director and novice master at Mt. St. Joseph (1996-2003); Provincial of the California Province and Director of the Shrine of St. Joseph in Santa Cruz (2003-2006); General Councilor of the OSJ, Rome (2003-2018); and Vocation Director once again at Mt. St. Joseph (2020-present). During these years, of course, I would assist in our parishes but was not formally assigned to them…until now!