Father Neil McNeill, was born in San Antonio, Texas on January 23, 1969. He entered the Legion of Christ at 21 years of age in the US Novitiate in Cheshire, CT where he also completed studies in classical humanities. He obtained a Master's degree in philosophy and a Bachelor's in theology at Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum of Rome. Currently he is working in youth ministry in Aguascalientes, México.

On January 23rd of the year 1969, the day I was born, my parents were informed that I would be their first and only child. Faced with this reality, my mother promptly raised her heart to God in prayer and told him: "Lord, this is my only son but he is yours". With this prayer she offered me to God and asked, if it was his will, that one day I would be ordained a priest.

As time passed by and many circumstances displayed the obvious hand of God in my life, there was a longing in my heart that would never leave me in peace: God had given me so much -- better still, he had given me everything. How could I respond with anything other than my whole heart? However I still had all of the other typical teenage interests, like a desire to get married and have a family. When I was a senior in high school, these two longings came head to head when my girlfriend of one year, and a serious one at that, told me straight out: "You tell me that you love me a lot and I truly believe you. But I know that there is another part of your heart which I have never filled and never will ..." She sensed that another Person was after my heart, as she was, and that he was a tough Person to beat.

Around this same time another event changed my life and my mother's forever: my father's passing. I didn't have much time to think about it, though, and the moment of truth presented itself on my doorstep sooner than I had expected. One day shortly thereafter His Excellency Harry Flynn, current Archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis, who back then was the bishop of my diocese in Louisiana and whom I have always considered a great friend, called me and told me that we needed to chat. During our little interview he suggested that I take a look at a religious order, one I had never heard of before, called the Legion of Christ. He didn't want to lose me but he thought that the religious life might be for me and that, in the end, we all work for the same Boss. I said, "of course", to be courteous but I hadn't the slightest intention of doing so. The next day I got a phone call that gave my life quite a spin. It was from the vocation director of the Legionaries of Christ. After a few minutes of stunned silence he explained that he had received my name from a "friend" who had said that I was interested in a Legionary vocation. That summer I went to the Candidacy program and entered the Novitiate in the fall.

What happened? To make a long story short, "someone" had sent my name to the Legionaries without telling me. This was all a complete mystery until three years ago: it was a friend of mine who wasn't even Catholic at the time; he was in the RCIA program. He decided to send the Legionaries my information as a joke. A year later, after entering the Catholic Church, he joined the Legion of Christ as well. The joke had come full circle. Remembering this always reminds me that God has a great sense of humor.

Two memories really stand out from the day of my ordination: First, the presence of Archbishop Harry Flynn, who had sent me to the Legion years before. It was he who anointed my hands with the holy chrism on that memorable day. Second, the surprise of seeing my mom go up to the lectern for the second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews with the words that describe the priesthood of Christ: "... He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness [" (Hebrews 5: 2). With the exception of God, I doubt there is anyone but my mother who could understand the mysterious union of the gift of the priesthood with my own weakness that morning of the second of January 2001.