Five Dominican friar students of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology will be ordained to the diaconate on January 31, 2009 by the Most Reverend Allen Vigneron, Bishop of Oakland, at the new Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, California. Brothers Michael Augustine Amabisco, John Marie Bingham, Christopher Fadok, Stephen Maria Lopez, and Tap Vu will enter into the apostolic ministry of deacons by their reception of the sacrament of Holy Orders, through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church. Bishop Vigneron will lay hands on the candidates, signifying their special attachment to him in the activity of ministry—or ‘diakonia.’ He will then give the book of the Gospels to the new deacons who will have just received their mission to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. As deacons, these Dominicans will share in Christ's mission and grace in an important way. The sacrament of Holy Orders marks them with a character that cannot be revoked and which configures them to Christ, who made himself the ‘deacon’ or servant of all.
Fulfilling the work that was intended for them, these ordained friars will assist bishops and priests in the celebration of the divine mysteries – above all the distribution of Holy Communion, but also in assisting at and blessing marriages, in baptizing, in presiding over funerals, and in dedicating themselves to various ministries of charity. Perhaps of greatest significance to these five friars of the Order of Preachers is the gift of proclaiming as deacons the Gospel of Jesus Christ and preaching the Word in the celebration of the Eucharist. This proclamation and preaching is especially fitting for the sons of St. Dominic, whose conception of the vita apostolica for his friars means to this day men on mission, proclaiming and preaching the Good News of salvation. God willing, all five men will be ordained priests in the summer of 2010.
Br. Michael Augustine Amabisco
I was born and raised in Orange County, California and I am the youngest of four children. I wasn't raised in the Catholic faith, or any faith for that matter. Attending church wasn't one of the activities we shared as a family. Now don't get me wrong, we weren't a household of pagans; we knew who Jesus was, we just didn't belong to any organized church. That slowly started to change for me when I was in the 4th grade. That was the year I met my best friend. He and his family were Catholic and I would occasionally attend Mass with them, and that is where the seeds of my faith were first planted. After years of exploring different Protestant faiths and not finding the answers I was looking for, I found myself praying in a Catholic church and feeling that I had finally found a home. At age 23, I was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church, and the first inklings of my vocation started to appear. Not too long after I entered the Church I began to think about the priesthood, but dismissed the thoughts and feelings and figured it was just the fire and fervor of my conversion coming out. After a few years the call to priesthood was back. I began a serious discernment with the aid of the local diocesan vocation director and began to seriously consider studying and preparing for the priesthood. As the time to make that decision came closer, I found that my fear of the commitment was stronger than my faith. I abandoned my discernment and went back to the pursuit of career, money, and materialism. Three years later I found myself living in Houston, Texas. My career was taking off; I was making good money and had most of the material things I wanted. I had those things that I thought would make me happy, but I found myself feeling unfulfilled. One day while at Mass, it struck me. "That priest has the best life. He is God's instrument that brings Christ to the world in the Eucharist. That is the life I want." I heard my vocation call again, and this time I listened. With lots of prayer and the graces of God, I found my way to the Dominicans and the fulfillment I was searching for.
Ferris Bueller summed it up well when he said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” I realize how true this is when I reflect back on the past 6 1/2 years I have spent as a Dominican and the events that have brought me to this point, Ordination to the Diaconate. As I stop and look around I recognize the numerous gifts and graces that have been part on my life. Faith, vocation, brotherhood, and ministry to others are the gifts that have been given to me. Through Holy Orders, I will be given the opportunity to serve the People of God in a special way. I am thankful for the life I have been given and for not missing God’s presence in my life, as I continue to pray for God’s blessings in the service to others.
Br. John Marie Bingham
My dad was an Episcopal priest and my mom a source of strength and discipline at home. Daily prayers were a part of our life, and every Sunday my mom would drag my brothers and me to my dad's parish and sit us in the second pew, Epistle side (that's on the right), whether we were late or on time. Even with this regimen, I don't distinctly remember learning the basics of Christianity. I reckon I had an osmosis experience or something because by the time I started attending Catholic schools in 7th grade, I knew the Christian (and Catholic Christian) faith better than many of my Catholic classmates. As time went on, my parent's convictions concerning the truth of the Gospel began to lead them closer to Rome. In their private conversations, they stopped using the phrase 'if we join the Catholic Church', and started saying 'when we join the Catholic Church'. In the spring of my junior year of high school it happened. My dad made the formal announcement that he was leaving the Episcopal Church and priesthood to enter the Church of Rome. I suppose my schooling had made me ready. In any case, my mom, younger brother and I came with him. After graduation (and a couple extra years of searching), I enrolled at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California. At the College, I frequented the sacraments, started discerning my vocation, and met my first Dominican – Fr. Bart de la Torre. But when my time was over in sunny California, I still couldn't figure out God's will regarding my vocation. So after graduation, I journeyed back home to Georgia. After a year there, I accepted a position as Assistant to the Vocation Director of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia. The vocation director's name was Fr. Brett Brannen. Fr. Brett watched me twiddle my thumbs concerning my vocation for a couple of months, and then he had had enough. He called me into his office and gave me a proverbial kick. After a few visits to various communities, I discovered that the Dominican charism of seeking the truth, living the truth communally, and preaching the fruits of the contemplation of that truth resounded in my soul. And so I entered the Order, made vows on August 30, 2003 and I am now studying to be a priest as a son of St. Dominic and will soon be ordained to the diaconate.
Br. Christopher Fadok
I was born in 1968 and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where I attended Catholic grade school at Most Holy Trinity Parish and high school at Brophy College Preparatory. In 1987 I began to study philosophy at the University of Arizona in Tucson. I questioned my Catholic faith for years, but was impressed by the philosophical works of John Paul II and other Catholic thinkers, so I began a study of Catholic thought and formally returned to the Church, receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation in 1997. That same year I joined the Dominicans, whose life of prayer and study I greatly admired. After six months in the Novitiate, I left the Order to discern a vocation to marriage. I returned to Arizona and dated the same wonderful woman for four years while working in the field of computers. But compelled by the power of the Gospel and a sense that God was truly calling me, I returned to the Dominicans in 2002. I received my Master of Arts (Philosophy) from DSPT in 2006 and am currently working toward the Master of Divinity and Master of Arts (Theology) degrees. I see my mother and father, brothers and sisters, and their spouses—my entire family—as the greatest school of love and self-sacrifice I have known. I therefore credit all of them with building up in me the strength to happily receive the grace of my religious and priestly vocation.
Br. Stephen Maria Lopez
I was born in New York, and raised in Seattle, Washington and San Diego, California. A graduate of Loyola Marymount University, I worked for several years in corporate accounting/finance before entering the Order of Preachers in 2002. As part of my formation as a Dominican friar, I spent my residency year (2006-2007) serving at his province’s parish in Mexicali, B.C., Mexico. I have had other mission experiences in Chiapas, Mexico, and the Philippines as well as Spanish language studies in Argentina. My areas of academic interest are spirituality, liturgy, Mariology, and the theology of consecrated life. Following my ordination to the diaconate and before my ordination to the priesthood in June 2010, I will spend my final year studying theology at the Dominican house of studies in Toulouse, France.
Br. Tap Vu
I'm Br. Tap Vu. When I was in Vietnam, I studied at a school run by the Dominicans. Before I joined the Order, I was working as a Mechanical Engineer. When I was laid-off, I went on a weekend retreat and realized that I had not been using God's gifts to work for His Kingdom. So I left everything and determined to be God's servant for the rest of my life. Since I had studied at a school run by Dominicans, when I decided to become a religious, I contacted the Vietnamese Vicariate and was able to join the Dominican Order. Now I'm in my third year of theology and will be ordained as a Deacon this month.
Greetings from Washington, DC: Br. Isaiah Mary Molano
I found my vocation at Saint Andrew’s Newman Center serving UC Riverside, a ministry of the Province. Majoring in Creative Writing (unofficial motto of the department: the few, the proud, the clinically insane) I held onto a dream to write screenplays for television or feature films. A year after graduating from the University, however, I entered the Dominican Order because the payoff was better. I find myself with a goal that has not changed since entering 7 years ago: campus ministry. The energy is incredible, the questions are real and the conversions are providential. Call me nuts, but being on campus is really the best place to encounter the divine.
Currently, I am studying with the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. DHS is located across the street from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Catholic University of America, and is practically next door from the USCCB. Other Religious Houses of Study—the Marists, the Franciscan Capuchins and the Josephites, for example—are only blocks away. This part of the Capital is aptly named “Little Rome”. It is both a surreal and wonderful experience to be surrounded by so much Catholicism. It is surreal because you can see habits and collars everywhere. And it is wonderful for just the same reason.
In early September, I visited the Capitol to see a friend, Representative Harry Mitchell (D-AZ), who is a parishioner at All Saints Catholic Newman Center, Arizona State University, where I spent my residency year. Representative Mitchell was gracious enough to allow me to accompany him as he went to the Congressional floor to put democracy to work. It was pretty exciting.
I will be ordained to the diaconate with the brothers of the Eastern Province on January 10, by the hands of Bishop Holly, auxiliary of Washington.
