Fr. Clarence arrived last Tuesday, Jan 22, to join us as Associate Pastor.

A little bit about him…
Clarence was born in Albuquerque, NM – a descendent of an old Spanish family – but has lived most of his life in the Hawaiian Islands. He is the youngest of 4 sons. Both of his parents are now deceased, along with one brother. Having graduated from the Univ. of Hawaii with a Bachelor of Arts in History, (Southeast Asian and Russian), he served in the Army Reserve while attending the College of Education for Secondary Education at the University of Hawaii.

Prior to his formation for priesthood, Clarence primarily taught World, American, and European History in public schools for 30 years, 27 years in the high school level and 3 years in middle school. He began his studies for priesthood for the Diocese of Honolulu but suspended his studies for 3 years. At the encouragement of Father Van Dien (now pastor of our Oakland Cathedral of Christ Our Light parish who was his seminary classmate), Clarence returned to seminary for service with the Diocese of Oakland. He was ordained into the priesthood in 2005. As Clarence depicts himself in biblical terms, he is “old wine in new skins.”

Ordained in the same class as Fr. Joseph Nguyen, Clarence’s 1st parish assignment was at St. Francis of Assisi in Concord.

Fr. Clarence told me that he enjoys “following college football and I am an avid fan of Notre Dame, not including last season. (joke)” and he used to play baseball, now enjoying watching the A’s. He loves all things Hawaiian (food, music, culture, geography, climate!).

Commenting on his priesthood, Clarence said, “I have been blessed by many great friendships that only the priesthood allows because I have come into contact with a greater variety of people than you usually meet as a high school teacher. He feels that he always had a vocation but it took time for God to reel him in. ”Like many, I sometimes don’t listen to the Lord’s voice and He has to hit me between the eyes before I get it. I look forward toward serving the people of God here at St. John Vianney, and feel blessed for privilege of being assigned here.

“Welcome, Fr. Clarence!”