Tomas Guillen
Tomas Guillen, 26, recalls having plans for a career in military intelligence when he entered New York’s Fordham University on a full ROTC scholarship. But God had other plans for the young college student.
He was living across the country from his family, experiencing new freedoms and one of the first things he started doing was getting involved in campus ministry.
“I was 18 years old and at my dream school in a beautiful city. School was paid for and I had nothing to worry about,” said Guillen. “But I wasn’t happy.”
After attending a number of retreats coordinated by campus ministry and receiving guidance from a Jesuit priest, he began to reflect deeper on a calling to the priesthood. So while home after spending a semester at Fordham, he prayed.
“I made a deal with God that I would be in seminary for six months and if I proved to myself that I didn’t belong there, I would go back and join the army,” he said. “Obviously, that didn’t happen.”
In 2008, he entered St. Junipero Serra House of Formation in Grand Terrace, where Diocesan seminarians begin their journey to the priesthood. He says that he expected the experience to be more monastic but he quickly realized that they did just as much work as regular university students.
“It was a very academic environment,” said Guillen. “I’ve been a student before, but it’s different as a seminarian in the sense that we’re studying, knowing that we’re going to serve people. So there’s a certain responsibility that we have in learning, in reading and studying because that knowledge is ultimately going to impact people’s lives.”
The Diocese eventually sent him to Loyola University in Chicago where he completed his degree in Philosophy in 2011.
In 2014, Guillen was assigned a yearlong internship at Sacred Heart Parish in Rancho Cucamonga, where he says the most memorable experience of his internship took place. The parish school at the time organized a canned food drive for Catholic Schools Week.
“I challenged the school to raise more cans than the previous year,” Guillen recalls. The goal was to collect 1,800 canned goods. “And if they did, they could shave my head.”
“We told him don’t do it because our kids are very competitive,” says Dr. Danielle Espinoza, Vice Principal of Sacred Heart School. But Guillen was invested. He let his hair grow out for several months. “In the end, we collected over 2,500 cans that went to our food pantry and he made good on his promise,” Espinoza recalls.
The students surpassed their goal and along with staff, the students got to shave off Guillen’s hair.
“In just the short time Tomas was here, he left a positive impression on each child, faculty and staff member,” said Espinoza. “He was a true model of service to God and is filled with the Holy Spirit. He inspired others with his words and actions. We miss him on campus and we eagerly wait in joy to call him Father Guillen very soon.”
His internship at the parish and experience with parishioners also added to his formation.
“I learned to walk with them,” said Guillen. “I walked with them in times of happiness and joy, but then I also shared in their pain and sadness. Seeing the faith of people was really inspiring to me. I think a lot of the time here at the seminary, we learn a lot of theology and a lot of different things that are important to know but the parishioners, the people of God, teach us things that we can’t find in the pages of a book and that’s really inspiring to me.”
Dominic Vu
Dominic Vu, 33, who was born in Vietnam and moved to Riverside at age 10, spent most of his life in a seminary. He entered his first seminary in Missouri at 16 with the intent of joining a religious order. He says he explored the idea of becoming a doctor or a lawyer because of a strong desire to help people. But neither felt enough for him.
“I felt that if I became a priest, I would be able to nurture other people’s gifts,” says Vu.
After some time and reflection, Vu decided that the best fit for him would be as a diocesan priest, so he entered St. Junipero Serra House of Formation in 2010. As this chapter of his journey closes, he says that he will miss the community aspect of life in the seminary.
“The thing that I will remember the most is the brotherhood and close friendships I formed over the years,” says Vu. “They gave me their support and encouragement, which helped me to overcome a lot of struggle and temptation. But another part of me is excited and curious about what God has planned for me and my ministry because it all depends on where Bishop Barnes will send me.”
During an internship at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in La Quinta, Vu got a chance to nurture other’s gifts.
“Dominic was very involved with our youth and served as a speaker at retreats where he encouraged them to find their vocation,” says Myrna Phelps, assistant to the pastor on business matters and former religious education coordinator. “He told them that God created all of us for a purpose. He was very pastoral and wise, very down to earth and he enjoyed being close to the people.”
Hau Vu
Hau Vu, 28, is the youngest of five children. One of his brothers was born with muscular dystrophy, which caused a number of complications over time and ultimately led to heart failure during Vu’s senior year of high school. Vu’s other siblings have multiple sclerosis. Inspired by his brother’s faith in God despite his suffering from the disease, Vu entered his first seminary after high school with the intention of becoming a religious order priest.
“I had a lot of questions like, ‘why me? why my family? why my brothers and sisters?’ which no one could ever answer,” says Vu. “So I went to scripture and I went to church and found the answer in the presence of God and through the Eucharist and especially through the adoration of the cross of Jesus Christ.”
Five years later, Vu earned a degree in cross cultural studies and a minor in philosophy. Shortly after, he transferred to St. Junipero Serra House of Formation in 2011 because he realized that a diocesan vocation would best suit him. Last year, he completed his internship at Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish in Winchester.
“He is friendly, inclusive and inviting to others,” said Father Tom Burdick, VF, parish pastor. “He brings a lot of warmth to ministry and was very well liked and loved at our parish.”
As ordination approaches, Vu is filled with emotions.
“I’m very excited,” he says. “Also a little bit anxious, joyful, full of hope and desire to serve God’s people and to be an instrument for God to radiate towards others.”