Father Nolan to take on new role at Mount St. Mary’s University 

 BY JENNIFER WILLIAMS/The Catholic Review 

After three years serving as associate pastor of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Pasadena, Father Brian P.  Nolan has been appointed by Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien as campus chaplain and director of campus ministry for Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, effective June 1.

The 37- year- old priest, whose first assignment after his 2001 ordination was as associate pastor of St. John, Westminster, said he has enjoyed parish ministry.

“From school children and teachers to the elderly, I’ve become part of their family and they’ve become part of my family, and that’s always hard to leave,” he said.

Father Nolan, who grew up in the parish of St. Louis, Clarksville, attended Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, and said he is excited to return to the campus.

“It’s a place I have a great love for, and I also have a great love for young adults,” said Father Nolan, who was also a campus minister for McDaniel College, Westminster, while serving at St. John.
  
He said he enjoys working with young adults as they explore difficult questions such as “ How can I live out my faith among all of these challenges?” Father Nolan, who attended Towson University, said it was a priest at a nearby college who had the greatest influence on him and helped answer those questions for him as a young adult. He and a group of 10 to 15 people would gather after Mass and talk about the faith. Of the group, one person became a Jesuit priest, one became a Dominican priest, Father Nolan became a diocesan priest and several couples were married.

“Having had that guidance, I was thinking if I could be involved with young adults and help them take a step forward wherever God is leading them, it would be wonderful to give them that gift as well,” he said. Father Nolan, who said he feels he has a special gift and call to serve young adults, said the first thing he will do in his new position is take some time to appreciate the pro-grams already established at Mount St. Mary’s.

The priest, who enjoys presenting the Catholic faith to young people in a creative and attractive way, said he thinks he will contribute, “ a joy-ful presence, a love for my Catholic faith, a love for young people and an appreciation for how our faith can be part of us.”