July 2, 2010

Criterion introduces Father Hoffman as new question-and-answer columnist

Criterion staff report

Father Francis HoffmanIn this week’s issue of The Criterion, Father Francis Hoffman is introduced among our regular columnists. His column will rotate every other issue with Father John Dietzen’s column; both are available only in the print edition.

In his column, “Go Ask Your Father,” Father Hoffman, who also is known as “Father Rocky,” answers questions about the Catholic faith.

It is also the title of a question-and-answer show that he hosts on Relevant Radio, a network of Catholic radio stations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and northwestern Indiana.

Father Hoffman, who is the executive director of Relevant Radio, is a native of suburban Chicago. He was ordained a priest of Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the Church, in 1992 by Pope John Paul II.

He earned a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame in northern Indiana and a bachelor’s degree in history from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

Prior to ordination, Father Hoffman worked in sales for the Inland Steel Company in Chicago, and later in tax and audit work for Crowe, Chizek and Company, a certified public accounting firm in South Bend, Ind.

His question-and-answer column also appears in The Catholic Answer magazine, published by Our Sunday Visitor, and Catholic New World, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Prior to joining Relevant Radio in 2009, Father Hoffman served as the chaplain of Northridge Preparatory School in Niles, Ill., a college prep school for boys. For the past 15 summers, he has been the chaplain for Youth Service International (YSI) Mexico Summer Service Projects in isolated and impoverished areas of Mexico. †

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