Fr. Darrin Merlino, CMF Fr. Darrin Merlino, CMF, is a Claretian Missionary priest living in L.A. His ordination in the year 2000 was the first ever in U.S. history to be broadcast live via the internet. Now Fr. Merlino is following his original calling to the priesthood, evangelizing through the media, as founder of Catholic Media Missionaries, the Creator and Host of the series, Hound of Heaven, author of his debut book, 30 Days Unplugged: How A Catholic Priest Turned Off His iPhone And Took A Call From God, and was the theological consultant, partial technical advisor, and played a prison guard in the film Nefarious.