By Brian Bialas

I'm originally from Warren, Pennsylvania, in the northwestern corner of the state.  Warren is a small town (pop. 10,000) next to the Allegheny National Forest.  I did a lot of hunting and fishing growing up.  My dad is an internist and my mom is a nurse practitioner.  I have three older sisters and a younger brother.  My two oldest sisters are doctors, my other sister is a teacher, and my brother is in medical school.  We all went to church every Sunday.

After graduating from high school in Warren, I went to Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.  I was involved with Catholic Campus Ministry at Bucknell.  I studied economics, but I knew early on that I wanted to be a lawyer.  I always liked history, politics, philosophy, and religion in school, so being a lawyer was a natural choice to put some of those disciplines into practice.  When I was admitted to Boston College Law School during my senior year, I jumped at the chance to attend a Catholic law school in a big city.

I first met Fr. Donald Espinosa and Tomasz Jaster at the graduate school housing fair at Boston College the summer before classes started.  They brought me and my dad to the Assumptionist Center for a tour, and I decided to sign up to live there.  I really appreciated the sense of community at the Assumptionist Center.  I never felt lonely in law school because I had a house full of friends to study with and to pray with.  The Assumptionist Center was the place where I became "grounded" in my faith before I entered the professional world.

As a lawyer, I have continued to visit the Assumptionist Center for monthly conversations on faith.  I've brought with me my lovely fiance, Allison Rosen, who is a PhD candidate in neuroscience at Harvard.  She is bright, beautiful, and has received the approval of my family and friends (including the Assumptionists).  In fact, Fr. Claude Grenache will be performing the ceremony in Warren on August 18.  I'm very happy that the Assumptionists will have representation at my wedding!

The Assumptionists have played a big role in my life and will continue to in the future.