Father Aidan Donahue was born on June 20, 1960 in Waterbury, Connecticut.  The eldest of seven children, he was educated in local parochial schools.  He went on to attend St. Thomas Seminary College (A.A., 1980); University of Hartford (B.A., 1982); St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, MD (S.T.B., S.T.M., 1986) and Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome (S.T.L., 1996).

Father Aidan was ordained to the Priesthood on December 20, 1986 at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph, Hartford by Archbishop John F. Whealon.  He has had the following assignments:

• St. Mary, Branford, CT - Assistant Pastor (December 1986 - June 1987)
• St. John the Evangelist, Watertown, CT - Assistant Pastor (June 1987 - August 1990)
• Sacred Heart High School, Waterbury, CT - Spiritual Director (August 1990 - June 1994)
• Saints Peter and Paul, Waterbury - Temp. Administrator (June to October 1994)
• Graduate Studies in Rome (October 1994 - June 1996)
• St. Mary, Windsor Locks, CT - Temp. Administrator (June to August 1996)
• St. Thomas Seminary, Bloomfield, CT - President/Rector (August 1996 - June 2001)
• Sacred Heart Church, Bloomfield, CT - Administrator (August 1999 - August 2000); Pastor (August 2000 - present)

In addition to the above assignments, Father Aidan has held the following positions in the Archdiocese of Hartford:

• Ecumenical Officer (November 2001 - present)
• Director of Diaconate Formation (July 2003 - present)
• Director of Continuing Formation of Priests (May 2002 - October 2004)

Deacon Skipp was born on February 13, 1951 in New Haven, CT.  He entered the Archdiocesan Deacon Formation program in 1989 and was ordained a Permanent Deacon on June 11, 1994 by the Most Reverend Daniel A. Cronin, Archbishop of Hartford.  Upon ordination, he was assigned to the Church of St. Mary, Newington, for six years.  He has been at Sacred Heart since February, 2000.  Deacon Skipp received a B.A. degree from Providence College in 1972 and a Masters in Criminal Justice from the University of New Haven in 1974.  In 1995, after a twenty-two year career, he retired from the Connecticut Department of Correction as Deputy Warden of the maximum-security Garner Correctional Institution.  He currently works for the Wethersfield Police/Fire Departments as a 911 Dispatcher.  Barry and his wife, Susan, live in Newington with their children Laura, Peter, and Caitlin.  An older son, Barry Jr., lives in Queens, NY.
 

Deacon Jim was ordained as a deacon in the Archdiocese of Hartford on June 12, 2004.  He received a doctorate in psychology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University and the University of California at Los Angeles.  An attorney, he graduated from the University of Connecticut Law School in 1991 with honors.  Gov. John G. Rowland appointed him as Connecticut’s first State's Victim Advocate in 1999, heading an independent state agency that protects and promotes the rights of crime victims in the state of Connecticut.  Mr. Papillo, his wife, Joanne, and their daughter, Stephanie, live in West Hartford. 

Visit Deacon Jim's website at www.catholicdeacon.org.

email: jimpapillo@comcast.net
 

Brother Paul is the Director of Liturgy at Sacred Heart Parish.  He recently celebrated the 48th anniversary of his Profession of Vows to the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.  Brother Paul was born in Leominster, Massachusetts on November 1, 1938.

During his high school education, Brother Paul was deeply impressed by the community spirit that resulted from the attitudes, values and practices of the teachers and staff of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.  Reflecting on his future, Brother Paul decided to enter the Sacred Heart Novitiate at the end of the summer following graduation from high school.  As a novice, he continued his education under the Brothers at Pascoag, RI and Pomfret, CT, made his Profession of vows in 1958, and continued his education at St. Michael's college in Vermont where he earned a B.A. Degree in History with a minor in English.  Brother Paul went on to obtain a Master's Degree in Religious Studies.

Brother Paul came to Bloomfield on July 31, 1991 and worked with Brother Marcus Turcotte in the Y-USS program for 2 1/2 years while assisting with the religious education program at Sacred Heart Parish.  When the Bishop announced the need to assign a single pastoral team to the Sacred Heart and Christ the King Parishes, Brother Paul joined the staff as Director of Liturgy, the role in which he continues to this day.
 

Brother John a native of Keene, New Hampshire first became interested in the Brothers while in high school in Fitchburg Massachusetts.  Brother made his first Profession of Vows in 1956 in the presence of Bishop Bernard Flanagan at the Scholasticate of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in Pomfret, Connecticut.  In 1962, he professed vows of poverty, chastity and obedience for life.  Undergraduate studies in English and Education were completed at St. Michael's College in Winooski, Vermont.  Brother earned a Master's Degree in English Literature from Boston College and a Master's Degree in Spirituality from Duquesne University.  His teaching ministry, begun in 1958, benefited students in most of the New England states, in Montreal, Canada (5 years), and in Zambia and Lesotho (15 years).  He directed schools as Principal and trained recruits to the Brothers in New England and Africa at all the levels of formation to religious life.  "Being part of the Sacred Heart Parish family at this stage in my life as a Brother of the Sacred Heart," Brother John says, "is a very special grace."