Reverend John P. Cush, S.T.D.

Rev. John P. Cush is a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn. Fr. Cush studied at Saint John’s University, Jamaica, New York, earning a B.A. in English and Philosophy in 1994. Fr. Cush was then assigned to seminary studies at the Pontifical North American College, Rome, Italy. There, he earned the S.T.B. (1997) in Sacred Theology and the S.T.L. (1999) in the specialization in Fundamental Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, with an emphasis on Christology and Theological Method.

Fr. Cush was ordained a priest in 1998 and was assigned as parochial vicar of Good Shepherd, Marine Park (summer 1998) and to Saint Helen, Howard Beach (1999-2004). From 2004-2012, Fr. Cush was assigned as a full-time high school teacher at Cathedral Preparatory Seminary, Elmhurst, where he taught Italian, English, Fine Arts, and Religion, and was also the high school’s Spiritual Director. During these years, he also taught at the Brooklyn Diocesan Diaconate Formation Program, the Diocesan Pastoral Institute for Lay Formation, the Diocesan Liturgical Ministry Training Workshops, the Diocesan Pre-Cana Program, and was an adjunct professor for pre-theology at the Cathedral Seminary House of Formation, Douglaston. Fr. Cush also was a part of the Brooklyn Diocesan Ecumenical Commission and served as a censor of books. 

In 2012, Fr. Cush was assigned to doctoral studies. In these years of ministry in Rome, Fr. Cush was a priest-in-residence at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Brooklyn, where he maintains a parochial residence. After a year of classes in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (The Angelicum), Fr. Cush completed his Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) in the field of Fundamental Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University with the focus on Theological Method.

 In 2015, Fr. Cush joined the faculty of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Italy as Academic Dean and Assistant Vice-Rector. He has been an adjunct associate professor of Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome; an adjunct associate professor of Church History and Social Communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome; and an adjunct professor of Church History at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (The Angelicum). In 2016, Fr. Cush had the opportunity to study for certification as a seminary spiritual director at the Institute for Priestly Formation, located at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska. 

Fr. Cush is the author of The How-to-Book of Catholic Theology (Our Sunday Visitor, 2020) and has contributed a chapter, based off his doctoral dissertation, to Intellect, Affect, and God (Marquette University Press, 2021). He is also the co-author, with Msgr. Walter Oxley of the text, Theology as Prayer: A Primer for Diocesan Priests (Institute for Priestly Formation Publications, 2022), and is the author of a forthcoming text for Word on Fire Press on Priestly Formation and Priestly Spirituality (2024).

Fr. Cush is a regular contributor to The Tablet (Diocese of Brooklyn), The Evangelist (Diocese of Albany), National Catholic Register, and Church Life Journal from the University of Notre Dame. Fr. Cush also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the well-known journal from Ignatius Press, Homiletic and Pastoral Review. 

Fr. Cush serves as a full-time professor of Dogmatic Theology at Dunwoodie, teaching classes in Christology, Fundamental Theology, Christian Anthropology, Ecclesiology, Introduction to Theology, Sacramental Theology, Trinity, and Eucharist and is a faculty advisor in the external forum and Director of Seminarian Admissions. He is also blessed to assist as a weekend associate at the parish of St. John the Baptist-Most Holy Trinity-Saint Ann in Yonkers, New York.