New priests

Seven men to be ordained June 29 share their paths to priesthood

The Sacramento Diocese’s Class of 2007, a group of seven seminarians with an array of interests and backgrounds, is remarkable, both individually and collectively.

The seven men will be ordained to the priesthood by Bishop William K. Weigand on Friday, June 29 at 10:30 a.m. in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento.

“This is an amazing story for our diocese,” said Father Brian Atienza, director of the diocesan office of priestly and religious vocations. “These men have a lot to offer, in terms of the gifts each one brings into their parishes.”

While the seven seminarians come from different walks of life and life experiences, Father Atienza said, they come “from a generation we’re hoping will really inspire youth and young adults.”

“They could be witnesses of the possibility of religious life for our young people, of a lifetime commitment to give oneself completely to God,” he said. “Their experiences are not far off from experiences of youth and young adults today.”

The Class of 2007 is exceptional in terms of sheer numbers, following years in which the diocese’s seminarian class ordained to the priesthood has typically been comprised of two or three men.

Three of the diocese’s new priests are local — born or raised in the Sacramento area — three are foreign born, and one grew up in Mexico. They range in age from 27 to 40.

The group reflects a demographic snapshot of the 475 men to be ordained to the priesthood in 2007 for service throughout the United States.

According to a May report by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Vocations, the average age of priests ordained nationwide is 35, with approximately 30 percent being foreign born.

A majority of the men ordained this year nationwide, like many of the seminarians soon to be ordained for the diocese, were invited to their priestly vocation by another priest.

Matthew Blank

Age: 40

Background: Born in Walnut Creek, Blank earned his bachelor’s degree in science in 1990 at California State University, Chico, going on to attain a master’s degree and doctorate in mechanical engineering at UC Davis. He enrolled in the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, in 2000, where he earned a master’s degree in divinity.

Call to religious life: While enrolled at Chico State, Blank joined in a “Campus Crusade For Christ” and began “to take religion seriously,” engaging in conversations with priests and fellow students on issues of faith.

“God gave me that desire to help other people with their faith,” said Blank, who at the time was still considering the possibility of marriage in his future.

After completing his graduate studies, Blank enjoyed a successful career, working in Detroit as an engineer for a major auto systems company.

In 1998, he traveled to Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, the site of numerous reported apparitions of Mary.

“I didn’t go looking for a miracle,” said Blank, but recalled that after meeting a priest in Medjugorje who encouraged him to consider a vocation to the priesthood, he began attending daily Mass.

It had become clear that Blank’s vocation would be “what God wanted,” and he moved into a house of discernment, a final step prior to entering the seminary.

Pastoral year: Blank enjoyed internship experiences at Sacred Heart Parish in Sacramento, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Colusa, and St. John the Evangelist Parish in Carmichael.

He found teaching a series of adult education classes at Sacred Heart and “Theology on Tap” interactive adult faith sessions at Our Lady of Lourdes, “really helpful” parish ministry experiences.

At St. John the Evangelist, Blank had the opportunity to take Communion to the sick and make hospital visits.

Blessings of priesthood: Blank believes that in spite of the blows the priesthood has taken related to sexual misconduct by some priests, that “priests are still loved.” Priests “have a tremendous influence on people, on their response to the Gospel,” he said.

Greatest challenge: Being comfortable living a public life can be a challenge, he said, when “being the center of attention” is not precisely your favorite environment. He expects to overcome this challenge by ensuring people know he cares about them through his ministry.

Thanksgiving Mass: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, June 30, at Sacred Heart Church in Sacramento.

Christopher Frazer

Age: 28

Background: Born in Santa Clara, Frazer grew up in Sacramento. He enrolled in 1998 at Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Ore., graduating with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Frazer transferred to the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome in 2004, where he received his bachelor’s degree in sacred theology and is completing a licentiate in sacred theology.

Call to religious life: Baptized a Methodist, Frazer began to feel drawn to the Catholic faith in the seventh grade. “Ultimately it was grace and the movement of the Holy Spirit” that determined his vocation, he said.

As a student at Jesuit High School in Carmichael, Frazer engaged in a dialogue on issues of faith with Jesuit priests on staff and in residence. When he was a senior, he considered studying marine biology, but the more he tried to put the priesthood out of his mind, the more he felt God’s presence in his life.

After graduation from Jesuit, Frazer entered Mount Angel Seminary and met a seminarian who had left a job in marine biology for a vocation in the priesthood. The meeting may have been coincidental, but Frazer didn’t think so. “I knew I was on the right path, and I was doing what God had called me to do,” he said.

Pastoral year: Frazer served at St. Anne Parish in Sacramento, while also participating in Clinical Pastoral Education at Sutter General and Sutter Memorial hospitals.

His fondest experiences at St. Anne involved teaching religious education and Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults ministry.

“I loved sharing the faith and watching others share their experiences of how God made himself present to them,” he said. “The children at St. Anne School especially struck me with their deep questions and obvious love for Christ and his church.”

Blessings of priesthood: “Since becoming a seminarian, I have learned to ‘Let go and let God,’” he said. “He has led me down a truly wondrous path.”

Seeing the priesthood as a new journey, he is confident that by remaining joined “to the heart of Christ through prayer, love and ministry,” the blessings will flow. “The primary blessing…is the nearness of Christ. I have the desire to communicate that love and share the joy I experience with others.”

Greatest challenge: Recalling his personal journey to the priesthood, Frazer said he “heard God speaking to me,” but had to learn to “put down my own desires and take up Christ’s.”

“The longer I hesitated in answering God’s call, the louder his voice called to me,” he said. “Grace immediately followed.”

Thanksgiving Mass: 10 a.m., Sunday, June 30 at St. Rose of Lima Church in Roseville.

Giovanni Gamas

Age: 28

Background: Gamas was born and grew up in the city of Atequera in Bohol Province, Philippines. He attended Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Tagbilaran City where he earned a bachelor of arts degree. Gamas entered Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Ore., in 2002, where he received a master’s degree in theology and divinity. Gamas received Mount Angel’s St. Paul Award for preaching in 2006, an honor bestowed by faculty and fellow seminarians.

Call to religious life: Raised in a devout Catholic family, “very engaged in the life of the church,” he said, Gamas, one of five boys among six siblings, joined his brothers as an altar server while in the third grade. He was accustomed to praying the rosary every day, joined the church Youth for Christ group, and when an older brother enrolled in the seminary, Gamas followed in his footsteps.

“My brother was a good model for me,” he said. “Whenever he was home from the seminary, he told me a lot about being a Christian and was happy with life. That attracted me.”

Pastoral year: Participating in ministries at Sacred Heart Parish in Anderson was “a great experience,” he said.

“I was able to practice my English, play the guitar with the choir, and visit the elderly and the sick,” said Gamas, who also taught religious education and was involved the parish Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program.

He recalled visiting patients at Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento.

“Just seeing in their hearts, in their faces, bringing them Communion, praying with them, was really touching,” he said.

Blessings of priesthood: “It is an honor to be part of the diocese, working with the bishop and priests, working for the kingdom of God,” he said. “I am looking forward to working in a parish, ministering…to the people of God in their joys and their sorrows, bringing Christ to them.”

Greatest challenge: He views working to integrate people from a variety of cultural backgrounds into one vibrant faith community to be one of his greatest challenges.

Thanksgiving Mass: 5 p.m., Sunday, July 1 at St. Paul Church in Sacramento.

Derek LaBranch

Age: 28

Background: LaBranch is a Sacramento native who grew up attending Mass with his family at St. Mel Parish in Fair Oaks. He received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Ore., then a master’s degree in education at the University of San Francisco. LaBranch earned a master’s degree in divinity and master of arts degree at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas.

Call to religious life: When he was a fifth grader, he became an alter server and met a priest who would change his life. It was his pastor, the late Father Richard Doheny.

“He had seen something in me and had said, ‘You’ll be the first priest for this parish,’” LaBranch said.

At the time it seemed to LaBranch, who gave serious thought to “being a teacher, getting married and having a family,” that it was kind of a crazy idea.

There were, however, always close ties to priests at St. Mel, a place where LaBranch spent a fair amount of time and grew in his faith.

“Father Doheny really taught me more about the priesthood by the way he lived his life than any conferences we ever had,” he said.

Pastoral year: Assigned to St. Theresa Parish in South Lake Tahoe, LaBranch found it fascinating to learn the dynamics of a rural parish, a parish community comprised at times primarily of locals and at other times of vacationers.

He enjoyed teaching religion to third and sixth through eighth graders at St. Theresa School, tried his hand as a cook, and experienced “a moment of grace” counseling a parishioner.

Blessings of priesthood: In ministry “you never know how you’re going to touch somebody’s life,” LaBranch said. He looks forward to telling young people, who either don’t understand or can’t hear God’s voice, that “God loves them.”

He said there will be the blessing of sharing the sacraments with parishioners, and after completing the Air Force Chaplain Candidate Program, ministry as a Catholic chaplain in the Air Force Reserves.

Greatest challenge: Being able to live a balanced life — a philosophy stressed in the seminary — while ensuring the availability that is integral to the priesthood is a great challenge, LaBranch said.

“If I ever would get upset it would be seeing a person approach a priest for confession and being told there wasn’t time,” he said. “Most important is the care of souls.”

Thanksgiving Mass: 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 1 at St. Mel Church in Fair Oaks.

Uriel Ojeda

Age: 27

Background: Born in Point Pleasant, N.J., Ojeda grew up in Colima, Mexico, where he attended high school, including three years of minor seminary at the Universidad de Colima. In 1998, he enrolled in Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Ore., where he earned bachelor of arts and masters in divinity degrees.

Call to religious life: As a 10-year-old while attending a minor seminary spiritual retreat at the Universidad de Colima, Ojeda “experienced God in a way I’d never felt before.”

Seeing the joy of the seminarians inspired him to pursue a vocation to the priesthood.

“There was no job career, place or person that fulfilled me with such overwhelming warmth,” he said. “It was like I had been lost and now was home. I knew I wanted to be close to God.”

Pastoral year: The timing of Ojeda’s pastoral year assignment to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento came during a renovation project which required the cathedral’s parishioners to temporarily attend Mass at three other Sacramento-area churches.

The young seminarian enjoyed working with both children and young adults and recognized “it is a journey of faith not having a home.”

“When people came together, we appreciated having a sacred place,” he said.

His ministry also included working with youth groups at Immaculate Conception Parish in Sacramento and prison ministry at the California Youth Authority’s Preston School of Industry in Ione.

Blessings of priesthood: Ojeda believes it will be “a blessing to be the instrument through which God communicates his love to people.”

That is a reality he has learned to appreciate by working with the permanent deacons in the diocese.

“It’s the gift of becoming God’s voice, God’s hands, God’s love for people,” Ojeda said. “I don’t think myself ever worthy to become a priest, but thank God he has called me to become one.”

Greatest challenge: Recognizing that in all things it is vital to remember God is the architect of people’s lives, Ojeda said.

“It’s my human tendency to think it is me who is influencing people, me who is helping out,” he said. “It was not my own effort that put me (in the priesthood). It was God calling me.”

Thanksgiving Mass: 5 p.m., Saturday, June 30 at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento.

Jovito Rata

Age: 29

Background: Born in Tagbilaran City in the Philippines, Rata entered Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Tagbilaran City in 1996, where he earned his bachelor of arts degree in 2000. He enrolled at Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Ore., in 2002, where he received a master’s in divinity degree and Mount Angel’s St. Paul Award for preaching in 2007.

Call to religious life: When he was six years old, he told his mother he wanted to be a priest when he grew up. “My mom taught me how to pray, to serve people,” said Rata, who became an altar server at the age of seven, and found praying the rosary and going to Mass interwoven into the fabric of his life.

Further encouraged by the support of his parish priest, Rata entered the seminary after just one year of college.

Pastoral year: Rata served his pastoral year at St. Lawrence Parish in North Highlands, where he taught religion at St. Lawrence School, worked with the parish’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults ministry and delivered reflections during Mass.

The first time he gave a reflection, Rata found himself “just opening up, speaking from the heart, from the mind.”

“I’m an extrovert. I like people,” said Rata, adding that pastoral ministry “is all about relationships, how you respect people, how you give yourself to people.”

He also served in ministry at Sutter Hospital in Roseville, which Rata found helped bring a balance to his life.

Blessings of priesthood: Rata said upon reflecting why he chose to become a priest, it was to be “a sign of hope for people that Jesus is here and now.”

One of the blessings of priesthood became evident to Rata while at Mount Angel, during his ministry to the homeless in downtown Portland.

“If you give to others, there is a joy that comes back to you,” he said. “That’s really what the priesthood is all about.”

Greatest challenge: “The challenge is how to be humble, to live as a simple and humble person,” Rata said, explaining the challenge is increased when coupled with the power and authority of the priesthood. “Jesus humbled himself,” he said. “I’m going to live that kind of life.”

Thanksgiving Mass: 4:45 p.m. Saturday, June 30, at St. Lawrence Church in North Highlands.

George Snyder

Age: 38

Background: Born in Olongapo City in the Philippines, Snyder entered Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Ore. in 1998, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree. After attending St. Patrick Seminary in 2002, Snyder enrolled in the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, earning a master’s in divinity degree in 2007.

Call to religious life: For Snyder, the call to religious life couldn’t have come earlier. He recalled a story told to him as a child by his mother, a devout Catholic and “woman of prayer,” who offered the unborn child she carried to serve God.

Family life involved sitting up front at church every Sunday Mass, and studying the priests he admired and sometimes imitated as a child by donning a white sheet which served as his vestment.

Following his family’s immigration from the Philippines to California in 1986, Snyder, then employed by an electronics company, had put his plan to be a priest on hold until becoming a member of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Vallejo.

Involvement in the parish’s religious education program and the Legion of Mary made him realize “something was lacking.”

“The more I gave to the church, the more I thirsted to serve,” said Snyder, who was encouraged by the priests at St. Vincent Ferrer to pursue a vocation to the priesthood. “It took 26 years for me to determine the significance of that thirst.”

Pastoral year: Snyder served his pastoral year at St. Dominic Parish in Orland, where he ministered to the homebound, visited nursing homes, and served as a religious education teacher for elementary school children. “I loved teaching, sharing knowledge with children was a joy,” he said.

Blessings of priesthood: “Nothing else comes close,” said Snyder, to being so closely associated with God, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist. “To be always available for people, willing to listen to them, be with them,” he said. “That is why I am called.”

Greatest challenge: The challenge, said Snyder, is “given the frailty of human nature, remaining faithful to your vows…doing what you are called to do.”

It also requires balancing prayer life and ministry to people. “You can’t be an effective priest without prayer,” he said.

Thanksgiving Masses: 2 p.m., Sunday, July 1 at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in Vallejo; 10 a.m. and noon on Sunday, July 8 at St. Dominic Church in Orland; 9 a.m. on Sunday, July 15 at St. Clare Church in Roseville; 9 and 11 a.m. on Sunday, July 22 at St. Patrick Church in Grass Valley.

Herald photos by Cathy Joyce