James Richard Eichor, Jr., was born on June 5, 1962, in Littleton, CO. He took the religious name of "Barnabas" (which means, "son of encouragement") when he entered the Capuchin novitiate on November 30, 2002. Much transpired in those forty years. James Eichor joined the RCIA program at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Denver and entered the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil on April 22, 2002. He spent the four years 1989-1993 in the United States Army as part of the 1st Infantry in Fort Riley,KS. He was deployed to Desert Storm and Desert Shield and earned a Kuwait Liberation Medal, an Army Achievement Medal and two Army Commendation Medals. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Eichor was a salesman, and then from 1995 until 2001, he was a semi truck driver for Stevens Transport in Dallas, TX. It was in 2001 that James Eichor decided that he wanted to enter the postulancy program in the Capuchin Province of Mid-America. After his investiture in 2002, Barnabas did his novitiate year in Allison Park, PA, and then returned to the province for his post-novitiate training and for his theological studies in preparation for June 24, 2011, which is the date when Archbishop Charles Chaput is ordaining him to the priesthood at Sacred Heart Church in Denver. Prior to entering the army in 1989, Fr. Barnabas' studies earned him a BA in economics and anthropology, and MA in anthrologogy from the University of New Mexico, and an MS in economics from Texas A & M University. He has an M-Div from St. John Vianney Seminary, Denver, where he pursued his priesthood studies. Fr. Barnabas' first assignment will be as an associate pastor at St. Joseph's Parish in Hays, Kansas. His deacon internship was done at Holy Ghost Church in Denver. We congratulate Fr. Barnabas and wish him every success and happiness as a Capuchin Priest!