St. Mary’s Welcomes New Faculty for Fall 2023

St. Mary’s Seminary & University welcomed four new faculty members this Fall:

Dr. Barnabas Aspray’s first degree is in Computer Science, and for a while he worked as a software engineer for the BBC website before changing career. He completed a theology PhD at Cambridge, and has spent the last four years teaching and researching for the Theology Faculty at Oxford (“the other place” as Cambridge calls it). Dr. Aspray is a regular contributor to “Seen and Unseen”, an online magazine aimed at explaining Christianity to a non-Christian audience. He is founder and host of “Faith at the Frontiers”, a podcast which confronts challenges to the Christian faith with hope. Dr. Aspray grew up mostly in Britain and partly in Ecuador. As an adult he has lived in France, Canada, and the UK, and he looks forward to making America his new home. He will be Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Mary’s.

Fr. Dominic Ciriaco, P.S.S., Rector of Theological College (2020-2023) is a New Jersey native. He attended Caldwell University, received a Master’s of Divinity and a Master’s in Systematic Theology from Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Newark in 1999. He became a permanent member of the Society of St. Sulpice in 2020 and received his D. Min. degree in preaching from the Aquinas Institute of Theology in 2023. He has authored two books: Witnesses to the Gospel: Reflections on Saints and Others Who Inspire (Authorhouse Publications, 2007) and A Woman for All Seasons: Margaret Anna Cusack “The Nun of Kenmare”: Reflections on Her Life and Liturgical Thought (Leonine Publications, 2015). Fr. Dominic Ciriaco will serve as the Director of the Homiletics Program and Director of Spiritual Life Programs.

Fr. Maximilian Maria Jaskowak, O.P. is a Dominican friar of the Province of St. Joseph (Eastern Province, USA). He entered the Order of Friars Preachers in 2016 and was ordained a priest in 2022. Earlier this year, he earned his licentiate in sacred theology (S.T.L.) from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. His areas of research include the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Thomist Commentatorial Tradition, Sanjuanist and Teresian Theology, and Josephology. He is currently assigned to the Dominican convent of SS. Philip & James in Baltimore. He will be Instructor in Moral Theology.

Fr. Hy Nguyen, P.S.S., was ordained for the Diocese of Oakland, California, in 1997. He obtained an M. Div. and MA degree in theology from St. Patrick’s Seminary in San Francisco, and his doctorate in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He has taught at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, and served as Vice-Rector and Director of Extern Spiritual Directors at Theological College at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He has also taught at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio and served as the Rector of Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas. As a native of Vietnam, Father Hy has made significant contributions to the faith formation and growth of the Vietnamese community in the United States and Vietnam. Fr. Hy will be Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Mary’s.