Chris

Chris Cotone remembers tagging along with his dad, St. John Bosco music director Norm Cotone, for evening choir rehearsals – and falling asleep in the pews. “It felt like another home. Everyone there helped raise me to be the person I am today, including my spiritual formation,” he says.

Describing the seeds of his vocation, Chris points to his father’sw example of faith, his mother’s prayers, and his family’s close friendship with their former pastor at St. John Bosco, Father Dave Liberatore. “We’d often see him outside of church, at our house, or on vacation together,” remembers Chris. “I was intrigued by him and the life of a priest. I was fascinated by his relationships with families in our parish, especially my family.”

In his first semester at John Carroll University (JCU), Chris met other young men attending JCU classes for Borromeo seminary. “Their witness drew me to consider for myself how the Lord might be calling me to lay down my life,” says Chris.

Having completed his undergrad program at Borromeo, Chris is in his fourth year at Saint Mary Seminary. He’s impressed with renovations funded by the Heart of a Shepherd campaign. Chris is pleased they’ll have rooms like modern college dorms, with central air, reliable internet, and sound insulation – and grateful for loan repayment assistance for college debt. “To know that people support us is humbling – but not surprising,” says Chris. “Our diocese has always loved our priests and been supportive of men who will minister in the future.”