Fr. Frank Desiderio, C.S.P.

Bio

Frank Desiderio, C.S.P. served as President of Paulist Productions and is the Chairman of The HUMANITAS Prize. He is also a member of the Paulist Fathers, an American religious order in the Catholic Church.

As President of Paulist Productions, he executive produced documentaries, movies for television and video content for internet distribution. As Executive Producer, Fr. Desiderio's credits include the ABC/Paramount movie Judas, which aired on ABC Television. He launched Paulist Production's new webisode series Tyler's Ride in the spring of 2008. His latest documentary film, The Big Question: A Film about Forgiveness premiered at the Sedona International Film Festival and won Best Documentary at the Breckenridge Film Festival and Santa Fe Metaphysical Film Festival. His work on this film launched him into his current ministry of forgiveness and reconciliation.

His documentary projects include Visions of Mary and Joseph: The Silent Saint, for The History Channel. His other projects include The Jesus Experience, an eight-hour documentary series examining the impact of Christ in different cultures and an A&E Investigative Report entitled Healing & Prayer: Power or Placebo. Also delivered to The History Channel are multiple documentary programs including The Apostle Paul and Judas.

In addition, Fr. Desiderio serves as Chairman of the Human Family Educational and Cultural Institute, which awards the HUMANITAS Prize to writers whose work in film and television, not only entertains, but also enriches the viewing public. Throughout the year, the Institute offers Master Writers Workshops given by some of Hollywood's most notable writers.

Originally from Washington D.C., he graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in English literature in 1976.

Ordained in 1982, Fr. Frank served as a deacon and then as a priest at St. Paul the Apostle parish in Westwood, California. In 1984, he became Director of Campus Ministry at the University Catholic Center at UCLA. During his four years as Director, he oversaw the expansion of the staff and ministry of the center and served as volunteer chaplain for the UCLA Olympic Village in 1984. He also wrote a weekly column for the Daily Bruin and initiated outreach programs to the campus.

In 1988, he made the transition to radio production. He produced two weekly religion and public affairs programs for Paulist Communications. At the same time, he earned a Master of Arts degree in Communications Management from the USC Annenberg School for Communication. He also holds a Master's degree in Theology from the Catholic University of America.

In 1991, he went to Washington D.C. to serve as rector of St. Paul's College, the Paulist FatherŐs seminary. During his seven years in Washington, he also taught preaching at Catholic University and Communications at the Washington Theological Union.

In 1998, he joined the staff of Paulist Productions in Los Angeles, CA. In 2000, following the death of Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser, founder of Paulist Productions, Fr. Frank became President of Paulist Productions.

He is a poet, practitioner of Tai Chi and enjoys bicycling and hiking.