Meet
Fr. Anthony of the Transfiguration
Cabrini Parochial Vicar, August 2025-
commitment. Dad (Alex Ariniello) was the County Public
Works Director and showed me merciful fatherhood and life
balance. Mom formed the teacher in me. Sacred Heart
School formed my intellect and love for sports. My big sister,
co-foundress of FOCUS, is my mentor and best friend. My
three siblings spoil me with the affection of 19 nephews and
nieces. Boulder helped me ponder the universe, humanity,
and deep questions of the heart. I found my response in
Christ’s promise.
I plunged into daily personal prayer and Scripture reading in
7th grade, with the guidance of Protestant youth groups,
even the same Bible Study/snowboarding group for 6 years.
Through Fairview High football and choirs, I found creative
and chaste friendships.
After freshman year at Notre Dame, my racquetball
relationship with Archbishop Chaput led me back to Denver
to enter the new seminary. Spirituality Year opened up
new horizons for how priesthood and celibacy might be a
path towards “life to the fullest.” I fell in love with a
community founded by married couples in France and in
Israel in the seventies, the Beatitudes. I felt at home with
their spontaneity, chanting, fervent praise, trust in
Providence, and their joy of witnessing to the Gospel. I liked
the challenge and grace of sharing in committed
relationships with families. On the day I professed poverty,
chastity, and obedience with 16 other brothers and sisters in
Lourdes, I peacefully received virginity as a gift, and I felt a
solidarity in my path of poverty and surrender.
BOULDER
Four days before my birth, a new Pope challenged the world: “Non abbiate
paura!” Be not afraid! 15 years later, at Mile High Stadium, I heard his
resounding Polish cadence proclaim Christ’s promise of life to the fullest.
was, for me, a cradle of virtue and
A rhythm of prayer and manual work has grounded my
learning and mission over the years in Italy, France, and
Israel. Summers are full of youth and family camps,
pilgrimages, and World Youth Days (I’ve survived 8 of
them). 13 times I’ve offered a 3-month immersion of
formation and service for 5 to 12 young Americans.
On sabbatical in Lebanon, I helped cultivate our terraces
of avocados and grapefruit in the morning, and
rollerbladed down the mountain to the Mediterranean in
the afternoons. Lebanon was one of the best places to
hitch-hike, especially for the evangelical encounters, as
with this Syrian family who stopped to offer me a
ride–”what, isn’t your motorcycle already full!!!??”