Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, O.P.

Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, OP was raised in Phoenix, AZ where he attended Brophy College Preparatory. He graduated from the University of Arizona with a double major in English and Philosophy. From there, he went to law school at the University of Chicago, where he obtained his Juris Doctor. Upon graduation, he worked for three years in the Corporate and Securities practice of Sidley & Austin, a large international law firm based in Chicago. Upon reflection and discernment, he left the practice of law to enter religious life. He entered the novitiate for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 2002, where he took the religious name "Pius", after Pope St. Pius V, one of the four Popes who were first Dominicans. As part of his initial formation, Fr. Pius studied for the License in Sacred Theology. His thesis was on St. Thomas Aquinas's account of Knowledge and Love in understanding the persons of the Trinity. Fr. Pius was ordained to the priesthood on May 23, 2008 and served at the parish of St. Thomas Aquinas in Zanesville, OH. In 2010, Fr. Pius was appointed by President Barack Obama to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that promotes equal access to justice and provides grants for high-quality civil legal assistance to low-income Americans. Fr. Pius is currently in studies pursuing a degree in Canon Law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum).