Florida Catholic | The Accountant | Father David Zirilli

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ANA RODRIGUEZ–SOTO | FC

The Accountant

Father David Zirilli is a certified public accountant who tried making deals with God to postpone the priesthood.

ANA RODRIGUEZ–SOTO | FLORIDA CATHOLIC MIAMI BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 05.16.08

MIAMI | Father David Zirilli took a while to commit to the Lord. The 36-year-old Melbourne native and University of Florida graduate worked as a certified public accountant for a decade, eventually opening up his own practice in the Upper Keys.

“It was an easy tradition to fall into,” he said, noting that accounting runs in the family: His grandfather and both parents, who now live in Key West, own accounting firms.

But “I look back now and see God’s footprints,” Father Zirilli said. “Having grown up in a Catholic family, it’s easy to see how the vocation that was already there was able to take root and thrive.”

Then came the actual call. “I was at Mass on Sunday up in Jacksonville. I looked up at the priest, and in that moment I knew I was supposed to become a priest myself.”

He put it aside. After all, he had just finished school and started his career. But he kept getting the same feeling “about once a year,” and putting it off meant “making deals” with God.

But the more he did in the parish – lector, extraordinary minister of Communion, religion teacher – the more strongly he felt the call.

“Finally I made another deal with God,” he said. “I will enter the seminary and I’ll give you a semester.”

He has not looked back. “From the moment I entered the seminary I knew that I was home. I knew that I had made the right decision,” Father Zirilli said.

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