Early life Cole grew up in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, before moving to
Cary, North Carolina. He was a parishioner at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Cary. Cole attended
Green Hope High School and, in 2011, graduated from
Furman University with a degree in religious studies and a minor in poverty studies. He was received as a Franciscan novice in August 2012, where, in 2013, he made his first profession with novices from seven North American provinces in
Burlington, Wisconsin at the Franciscan Interprovincial Novitiate. He studied at
The Catholic University of America from 2013 to 2016, working towards a
master of divinity degree. In 2016, Cole began serving at
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in
Durham, a Franciscan parish, and professed his final vows as a
Franciscan friar in 2017. In March 2018, he was ordained a
deacon. In 2019, he received a master of divinity from
Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. At Cole's insistence (wanting "the people of God in their realness to be there"), all lay liturgical ministers who assisted in the celebration of the
Mass were women. Since 2020, Cole has served as the chaplain of
Mount de Sales Academy in
Macon, Georgia. ==Writings==