Fr. Marco Schad

Fr. Marco is orginally from the Dominican Republic, where his mother and siblings (with their families) live (all on the same street). His family is of Dominican and Swiss ancestry (which explains the Germanic last name). His mother is a trained interior designer and artist (mostly painter), and several of her works can be found in our church.

Following high school in the DR, he attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, where he earned a bachelor's degree, double-majoring in International Relations and Computer Science. He then attended Georgetown University in Washington, DC and received a joint degree, Master of Science in Foreign Service (International Economic Policy Analysis) and Juris Doctor (focusing on international trade law).

While at Georgetown, he realized that it was time to stop running from God's call and applied to enter the seminary for the Archdiocese of Washington. The Powers That Be decided to send him to Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ, where he received a(nother) joint degree, this time a Master of Divinity (the "professional" degree for pastoral ministry) and an Master of Arts in Theology (more of an "academic" degree). Clearly, he has trouble just doing one thing at a time.

After being ordained a priest of Jesus Christ for the Archdiocese of Washington in 2008, Fr. Marco served as parrochial vicar at Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda, MD and St. Mark the Evangelist in Hyattsville, MD. In November 2013, Fr. Marco was named administrator of Immaculate Heart of Mary and in July 2014, he became pastor.