Fr. Avelino was born in Camaguey, Cuba and received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from The Catholic University of America. Prior to entering the seminary he worked as a mechanical engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Carderock, MD in the area of underwater acoustics. In May 2001, he received an M.A. in Sacred Theology from the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College in Alexandria, VA. After discerning a call to the priesthood, he entered the seminary in 2001 and earned a licentiate degree in Biblical Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. He was ordained a Catholic priest on May 27, 2006.
Fr. Avelino has served as pastor of St. Joseph’s on Capitol Hill and St. Gabriel Catholic Church in NW, Washington, DC. Father Avelino currently serves as Pastor of St. Matthias the Apostle Church, in Lanham, Maryland. Before this he served as associate pastor at St. Michael the Archangel parish in Silver Spring, MD and St. Martin of Tours parish in Gaithersburg, MD.