Name: John Aaron Finney
Race: Human
Age: 74
Gender: Male

Physical Description: White thinning hair covering his head, a well kempt mustache and beard framing his blue eyes, John has a certain grandfatherly look to him. Thin and bespectacled without a great amount of muscle mass to him, the Chaplain fills his role well.

Background:

John was born in Cork, Ireland, Earth to unknown parents. As a child he had been born with several internal deficiencies, ranging from a poorly formed and underproductive heart to lungs that were too small to support him. The only true option was genetic manipulation and therapy, highly illegal in the Federation. Whoever his parents had been went through the trouble of having him genetically treated for his conditions, his heart growing stronger and his lungs growing larger, giving him, even in his later years, an aptitude for running and physical activity that bewildered most physicians when they looked at his age. However, whoever fathered and spent the money and resources to procure the genetic modifications had grown scared, dropping the tiny bundle off at the age of one and a half in front of a Catholic monastery to be cared for.

The created world of Earth hadn't disappeared like many predicted when first contact came to Earth, it had only been joined by a bunch of other created worlds in a grander cosmos of the galaxy and universe at large. The monks took the babe in and cared for him, raising him with a healthy respect for the Christian tradition and opening their libraries to the young growing child. As he grew, the monks taught him history, mathematics, astronomy, science, and several different languages as well as other religious and philosophical traditions that the monks were only too happy to teach.

As John came into his majority, entering his latter teen years, it became clear that one day the idyllic monastic lifestyle would have to come at to an end, and he would have to choose where he would go. Though if he chose to join the monastery in Cork, he was most certainly welcome to do so. But John had different plans, and different passions. As much as he loved living at the monastery, his calling was to the priesthood and aiding others. He applied for entrance into a seminary and began his life pursuing the Catholic priesthood in the Jesuit Order.

Throughout his time there at the seminary, John was amazed at how many of his fellow students came to him for advice both on class topics and extra-curricular problems. What was even more amazing was the fact that he found it came naturally and that he enjoyed it. His calling had come. After his ordination into the priesthood, John requested permission to continue his education in the field of counseling and social work, diligently working hard to make use of his passions. With his training as a priest and a counselor, there were quite a number of options available to him, not the least of which being working at one of the reputable private Catholic schools throughout the Federation. For a good number of years he worked at Saint Mark's Academy on the Lunar Colony near Lake Sloane, but wanderlust got the better of him. At the age of fifty-seven, he enlisted himself as a civilian chaplain in Starfleet, being assigned to several ships during his tenure. When the Dominion War broke out, he served on some of the front lines, acting as a counselor and spiritual guide to those who had come out of the fighting terribly wounded. After the Dominion War abated, he sought out a change of pace, and eventually landed himself the position of chaplain aboard the USS Lancelot.