Bio
Fr. Darrin Merlino, CMF, is a Claretian Missionary priest living in L.A. An alumnus of Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH, his ordination in the year 2000 was the first ever in U.S. history to be broadcast live via the internet. He’s been an award-winning high-school teacher (Mary Star of the Sea, San Pedro, CA), associate pastor, and youth minister, and, for five years, the highly successful pastor at Sacred Heart Church in Prescott, Arizona.
Among his many accomplishments at Sacred Heart was spearheading the recent $3.2 million renovation and redesign of the 50-year-old church building, which reopened on schedule in Nov. 2018. Now Fr. Merlino is following his original calling to the priesthood, evangelizing through the media, as cofounder of Catholic Media Missionaries and host of CMM’s flagship video conversation series, “Hound of Heaven.”
- 20 years’ experience in media ministry working in radio, television and print. Regular host for “St. Joseph Radio Presents.”
- Hosted Sacred Heart Outreach, a community access TV program in Prescott, AZ, 2000-2002. Won “Most Inspirational Program of the Year,” 2001-02.
- Co-hosted, with Jim Grant, Yesterday, Today, and Forever, a live call-in catechetical TV program for Channel 49 in Fresno, CA, 2002-03.
- 2019 video projects for St. Joseph Evangelization Network (SJEN.tv) and, where indicated, Santiago Studios:
- shot 20 episodes on Spiritual Warfare with John Labriola
- shot an eight-part series on The Commandments
- while in the Holy Land, shot three different programs on my experiences there: total of 15-25 episodes of 10-30 minutes each (for Santiago Studios and SJEN.tv)
- shot two 30-min. episodes on my Holy Land experiences
- participated in Media Day at the new Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA, and shot a promo video for official dedication and opening
- shot interview with a former Swiss guard who used to work at the Vatican with Pope Francis