News 12/Newsday special report: Profile of Diocese of Rockville Centre's Bishop John Barres

His parents were Methodist ministers, he played basketball at Princeton - but now, that young man from Westchester is Long Island's new Catholic bishop.

Bishop John Barres says he was attracted to marriage and family and basketball. So how did this boy from Larchmont in Westchester become a Catholic priest?

Barres remembers the first spark coming during a high school basketball trip, while doing his term paper on St. John Neumann.

"His life and holiness hit me at an unexpected deep level," says Barres.

Soon after, he was inspired again in Mass.  John Barres' parish priest told him to pray and go to Mass daily.

He kept playing basketball at Princeton - where he found another love - a girl.

"We learned a lot from each other - the years we had together," says Barres.

After earning an MBA at NYU - the pull to the priesthood finally won.

After seven years in Allentown, Barres leaves behind a Pennsylvania diocese facing a state investigation for its handling of alleged clergy sex abuse. He also faces the open wounds of priest sex abuse on Long Island - saying that he's willing to meet with victims.

During the News 12/Newsday interview, Barres says that he will be very present for Long Island's undocumented immigrants worried about possible deportations under President Donald Trump.

With membership shrinking in parishes across America, Barres plans to use social media to get more people back into the pews.

Bishop Barres will be installed as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Jan. 31.