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October
23, 2006
VOL.
44, NO. 18Oakland,
CA
Seven men begin journey to priesthood in diocese
A technical
illustrator, a civil engineer and a high school math teacher are among
the seven new seminarians who have joined nine others in studies to become
priests for the Oakland Diocese. During their time of study and formation,
they are discerning whether they have a call to ordination.
Below are profiles on each of the new seminarians:
Peter
Hoang Van Thi
Peter Hoang Van Thi was born and grew up in a family of six brothers and
sisters in Hai Duong, Vietnam.
He described life there as “not rich but stable and peaceful.”
Both of his parents work on the farm from “dawn to dusk” every
day to earn a living. He credited the faith of his parents, especially
his father who has been a parish council leader, for nurturing his religious
vocation.
After graduating from high school in 1996, Hoang became a candidate for
the priesthood for the Hai Phong Diocese and was sent to Ho Chi Minh City
to study. He stayed there for seven years and graduated from two universities
– Open University where he majored in English and the University
of Social Sciences and Humanities where he majored in French.
He worked as a reporter for a French newspaper in Ho Chi Minh City for
one year before returning to his home diocese to continue his vocation
journey.
Because the Vietnamese government limits the number of candidates who
want to enter the seminary – only six candidates per diocese every
two years – and because Vietnam produces many vocations, Hoang had
to wait his turn. He spent that time working in the bishop’s house
as an assistant, as a Eucharistic minister to the sick and homebound,
and as a volunteer teacher to street children in the community.
He came to the Oakland Diocese in August with the help of Father Quang
Minh Dong, pastor at Christ the Light Parish in Oakland, who knew Pham’s
bishop.
Now a student at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, Hoang, 29, said that
as a child his
dream was to be a doctor because of the importance doctors have in people’s
lives. However, when he was 17 he felt “the call of God” and
he decided to follow Him.
“I want to become a priest to cure painful souls instead of painful
bodies as doctors do so that whoever comes to me in sorrow goes in joyfulness.”
Brandon
Macadaeg
The seed of a religious vocation was planted very early in the life of
Brandon Macadaeg. “When my parents first brought me to Mass I remember
sitting in the very front row and watching, with great wonder and awe,
the priest celebrating the Holy Mass,” he said. “I remember
thinking to myself, ‘Wow, that’s really cool.’”
Macadaeg became an altar server in the fourth grade and, as he grew, he
was encouraged by parishioners and priests to consider a vocation to the
priesthood. “To have others recognize a vocation to the priesthood
in me was very special,” he said.
After graduating from Dublin High School, Macadaeg, a member of St. Joan
of Arc Parish in San Ramon, enrolled at The Catholic University of America
where he began to seriously discern the priesthood during his sophomore
year.
Urged to consider entering a college seminary program by Oakland Bishop
Allen Vigneron and Father Larry D’Anjou, diocesan vocations director,
Macadaeg, 20, was awarded the Theodore B. Basselin Scholarship Program
at the Theological College at CUA. This three-year scholarship seminary
formation program leads to a licentiate in philosophy, an ecclesiastical
degree equivalent to a master’s degree.
Macadaeg is one of only 14 college seminarians in the program, the only
one from California, and the first in the history of the Oakland Diocese.
After three years of study at the Theological College, he will move to
another seminary to study graduate level theology for four more years.
Ordination to the priesthood may follow in 2013.
Calling the seminary a “wonderful and rewarding experience,”
Macadaeg encouraged young men in high school to consider a vocation to
the priesthood.
Leonard
Marrujo
Leonard Marrujo first realized that he had a calling to priesthood when
he was a kid. “My brothers and I would play Mass and I would be
the priest,” he told The Voice.
After graduating from Oakland’s St. Elizabeth High School, the Alameda
native attended the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland where
he earned a bachelor’s degree in design. He worked as a technical
illustrator with Sun Microsystems in Menlo Park and taught design at the
Academy of Art College in San Francisco. However, he could not leave behind
the call of God in his youth.
Asked why he decided to pursue the priesthood, Marrujo, 46, said he has
always loved the lifestyle of a priest and looks forward to being able
to celebrate the liturgy and offer other sacraments.
Being a priest means following Christ, he said, and “sharing yourself
with his people, the community of his Church.”
Life at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, where he is a student,
has been wonderful, said Marrujo. Among the highlights are the times when
students gather together for meals and for morning and evening prayers.
“Two years ago I would never have dreamed that I would be sitting
here at St. Patrick’s taking courses and sharing my life with other
men who feel strongly about the Church, about God and about our mission
as priest,” he said.
Alberto
Perez
Alberto Perez realized that he had a religious vocation after he began
serving Mass in his parish in Guadalajara, Mexico. Father Ricardo Gonzalez,
an associate pastor, became his mentor and encouraged him to go to the
seminary. The priest also supported him once he entered the seminary.
“He impacted my life in many ways, especially when I saw his pastoral
care towards his people in his parish,” Perez said.
Perez, 25, said the time he spent in the seminary in Mexico helped his
faith to grow stronger as he learned more about God and His Church. “I
like to work with people and help them in their spiritual needs through
the sacraments and our support as spiritual leaders,” he said.
“During my years in the seminary I also worked with sick people
where I talked with them and took food to their homes,” he said.
“This experience has taught me a lot about the need of priests to
take care of people.”
Perez, who has a brother and sister living in East Palo Alto, came to
the Oakland Diocese because of his desire to serve in a multi-cultural
environment. “There are not enough vocations for the diversity of
cultures that the diocese requires,” he said. “I want to be
someone who can help in the vast variety of cultures. He is studying at
Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon.
Nghia
Pham
A student at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, Nghia Pham was born in Saigon,
Vietnam, and is sixth in a family of 10 children. Although he realized
that he had a vocation to the priesthood at the age of 17, he went to
the University of Technology in Saigon and earned a bachelor’s degree
in civil engineering in 1999.
After working as a civil engineer for several years, Pham, 31, could no
longer deny his attraction to the priesthood and decided to pursue ordination
after recognizing that it “is God’s will.” He told The
Voice that he wants to spend the rest of his life serving the people of
God.
Pham will be spending much of his time at the seminary working to overcome
what he called his biggest “obstacle,” improving his skills
in English. He is also eager to learn about theology, priestly life and
pastoral ministry. “It is a good environment for me to learn how
to work with the community of God,” he said of the seminary.
Markton
Ross
Markton Ross’s spiritual journey has taken him across many paths
including one that brought him to the Catholic Church and another to his
ongoing discernment of a vocation as a priest.
Although his mother was a Baptist and his father a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, Ross, 37, described himself as a non-denominational
Christian. The high school mathematics teacher believed in God but wasn’t
so sure about the role of Christ. After years of “persistent prayer,”
study and journaling, he realized for himself that Christ was the way
to God.
When his spiritual journey initially brought him to the Catholic Church,
he said several “bad experiences” nearly left him disillusioned.
Once, for example, he rang the bell at a parish office seeking information
for a program he only know as “RC-something.”
The person who answered the door told him to go to one of the Masses on
Sunday “and you’ll find out.” Stung, Ross did not return
there. Eventually he discovered St. Joachim Parish in Hayward, where he
was greeted warmly and given information about the parish’s RCIA
program.
After completing the RCIA program at St. Joachim, where he made many friends,
Ross was initiated into the Church in 2004.
Soon he found himself discerning a religious vocation. He received spiritual
support from the parish as well as Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity and
the Friends of Father Augustine Tolton (FFAT), an organization in the
diocese devoted to fostering priestly vocations among African Americans.
Ross is now a student at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park.
During his spiritual journey Ross has also received a great deal of encouragement
and support from his family, including his twin brother who is a Salvation
Army minister.
Deacon
Gustavo Sarate
During his youth, Deacon Gustavo Sarate worked the fields with his father,
now retired, in a small town in Jalisco, Mexico. Although the family,
which included 10 children, did not have a lot financially, there was
enough to feed the family.
Sarate attended public schools in his hometown through high school. Sometime
after graduation he decided to enter the seminary. At the age of 27 he
joined a regional religious community known as the Misioneros de Guadalupe
and was ordained a deacon.
During his deacon internship year he came to realize that he wanted to
be a diocesan priest.
He was also interested in serving in the U.S. because several members
of his family live in the East Bay. He met with Father Antonio Valdivia,
pastor at St. Louis Bertrand Parish in Oakland, who introduced him to
Oakland
Bishop Allen Vigneron and Father Larry D’Anjou, diocesan vocations
director.
Sarate, 37, is currently living at the Blessed Miguel Pro House, a house
of formation for the Diocese of San Jose, where he is participating in
their formation program while he learns English. On weekends he is involved
in pastoral work at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Fremont.
