FR. JOSEPH-ANTHONY KRESS, O.P.
Chaplain
Fr. Joseph-Anthony Kress, O.P. entered the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 2010. He made his solemn profession on August 9, 2014 and was ordained a priest on May 21, 2016. In the spring of 2010 he graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville with a Bachelor of Arts and subsequently received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology and Masters of Divinity from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Joseph-Anthony has served as the Chaplain to Catholic Hoos at the University of Virginia since February of 2017. He is a co-host of the Godsplaining podcast alongside four of his Dominican classmates. Over the years he has worked in overseeing large-scale liturgies which include World Youth Day Krakow, USCCB Convocation, Fr. Emil Kapaun Homecoming, and Amazing Parish conferences. A native of St. Clairsville, OH, he is the youngest of three.
MATT LINES
Associate Director of Campus Ministry
Matthew Lines is a Catholic husband, father, and convert grateful to be joining the Catholic Hoos ministry as of July 2023. Matt grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and graduated from Geneva College in 2018 with a degree in political science. After discerning a call to full-time ministry, Matt became an Anglican ordinand and was sent for seminary studies to Trinity School for Ministry while serving as a campus minister at his alma mater. It became clear in time that God was not calling him to the pastorate, but rather to the fullness of truth in the Roman Catholic Church, leading to his conversion in early 2020. Matt has been blessed to serve in a variety of ministry and professional contexts in his career, and is excited to share the fruits of God’s grace in his life with the Catholic Hoos ministry. In his spare time, he enjoys writing and reading, long walks, and good laughs with friends and family. He married his lovely wife, Isabel, in January of 2022 and they welcomed their firstborn, Thomas, in November of the same year.
Although this organization has members who are University of Virginia students and may have University employees associated or engaged in its activities and affairs, the organization is not a part of or an agency of the University. It is a separate and independent organization, which is responsible for and manages its own activities and affairs. The University does not direct, supervise or control the organization and is not responsible for the organization’s contracts, acts or omissions.