Fr. Nicholas Colalella grew up in Middle Village and attended St. Margaret’s elementary school. After graduating Xavier High School in 2008, he began his formation to the priesthood at Cathedral Seminary and St. John’s University. Fr. Colalella studied theology in Rome and was ordained to the priesthood at St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral in Brooklyn on June 27, 2015.

After ordination, he continued his studies and earned graduate degrees in biblical studies and Semitic languages. Upon completing his studies, Fr. Colalella served as the parochial vicar of St. Luke’s parish in Whitestone, Queens, was adjunct professor of biblical theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, and taught Latin at Cathedral Prep High School in Elmhurst, Queens.

In 2021, Fr. Colalella entered the Jesuit novitiate in Syracuse to discern a religious vocation with the Society of Jesus. As a Jesuit, Fr. Colalella worked in a variety of social and pastoral ministries and studied Classical Languages at Loyola University, Chicago. In 2023, having discerned that God continued to call him to be a diocesan priest, Fr. Colalella returned home to continue his priestly ministry in the Diocese of Brooklyn. He had been assigned to St. Ephrem in Brooklyn, but this spring came to Our Lady of Hope where he serves as Parochial Vicar.

Welcome back to Midville, Fr. Nick!