About Rev. Brian X. Needles

Fr. Brian Needles was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the fifth of six children. He graduated from Miami University of Ohio in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science (Finance) degree. Between 1987-1999, he worked in the real estate development business.
In 1999, he began seminary studies in Rome, Italy. He received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome in 2001; a Masters Certification in Bioethics from Regina Apostolorum in collaboration with the Centro di Bioetica dell’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome in 2003; a Bachelor in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 2004; and a License in Sacred Moral Theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome in 2006.
He was ordained to the transitional diaconate on October 6, 2005 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and he was ordained to the priesthood on May 27, 2006 at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ.
After his priestly ordination, Fr. Brian was assigned to parish ministry, first at St. Joseph of the Palisades Church in West New York, NJ and then at St. Philomena Church in Livingston, NJ. He was then appointed the Director of Campus Ministry at Seton Hall University, serving in that capacity from 2016-19. In 2019, he was assigned as Pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows in South Orange, NJ.