In his youth, Benedictine Brother Finnbar McEvoy prayed at Mass with the rest of the congregation for a much-needed increase in priestly and religious vocations. But as he prayed, the boy was actually thinking, “No, I’m not going to be a priest. I’m going to college and live a different life.”
As God would have it, Brother McEvoy, 34, graduated from college — several of them, in fact — on his way to a teaching career. But the path did not end there: this former member of Sussex County parishes of the Paterson Diocese, N.J., is now on track to be ordained as a Benedictine priest next year — a life he could not have imagined earlier.
Brother McEvoy, a monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Penn., was ordained a transitional deacon — the last step before priesthood — on May 23 in the archabbey’s basilica. Seven men were ordained that morning, either as priests or transitional deacons. Brother McEvoy anticipates being ordained a priest at the archabbey on May 29, 2027.
“As a transitional deacon, I am configuring myself to Christ, the servant. I will do whatever he tells me to do — with alacrity, holding nothing back,” said Brother McEvoy, who has five siblings. “On my last stop before the priesthood, I am embracing the diaconal ministry. I am assisting the priests, including at Mass, and serving my brother Benedictines,” he said.
Brother McEvoy’s faith took root while he was a member of Our Lady Queen of Peace (OLQP) Parish in Branchville, N.J., and later St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Sandyston, N.J. Years after, his vocation blossomed, in part, with the Benedictine monastic community in Morristown, N.J., located within the Paterson Diocese.
In 1991, Brother McEvoy was born as Tim McEvoy in 1991 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to Doreen Anne Binns of Hardyston, N.J., and the late Timothy Patrick McEvoy. The Benedictine-to-be started his early years in New York before moving with his family to Lafayette, N.J. He first attended OLQP, where he received his First Holy Communion.
Later, Brother McEvoy became associated with St. Thomas through Tom Costello, a St. Thomas parishioner and teacher at High Point Regional High School in Wantage, N.J., where the future priest graduated in 2009. Brother McEvoy received his confirmation after completing the parish’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adults.
Then, Brother McEvoy went to The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in math and physics in 2013. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and served as the university council’s grand knight for a year. He is also belongs to Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Eta Sigma and received the President’s Award of Catholic University.
At Catholic University, Brother McEvoy was inspired to discern his vocation by several priests and other male friends, some of whom entered the seminary.
In 2015, Brother McEvoy earned a master’s degree in high school math education from the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Ind. From 2013 to 2017, he taught at Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville, Fla. Then, from 2017 to 2019, he taught at Delbarton School, an all-boys Catholic college-prep school run by the Benedictines in Morristown.
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
“I connected with the Benedictines because of their greater emphasis on common prayer, work, and community,” said Brother McEvoy, who lives with his fellow monks by the Rule of St. Benedict, which emphasizes mutual obedience, humility, and hospitality.
Brother McEvoy professed simple vows in 2021 as a monk of St. Mary’s Abbey in Morristown. He assumed the religious name Brother Finnbar, inspired by a 6th-century Irish monk who founded the city of Cork and was a famous teacher, especially of monks.
In 2022, Brother McEvoy began studies at Saint Vincent Seminary, where he earned a master’s in Catholic philosophical studies, summa cum laude in 2023, the year his father died. After transferring his vows in 2024, he made solemn profession in 2025 as a monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey.
Brother McEvoy’s appointments include assistant to the director of vocations and assistant to the prior, starting in 2024. He was named to the Archabbey Formation Committee in 2024. He has tutored Saint Vincent College students in physics and has assisted with retreats through College Campus Ministry and the Archabbey Vocations Office.
Brother McEvoy advises young men discerning a vocation to “talk to someone about it, particularly a priest. It will be a step in the right direction.”
