Our Seminarians

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Meet the men studying to become priests for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter:

Armando Alejandro
Theology III
St. Mary’s Seminary, Houston, Texas
Home Parish: Our Lady of the Atonement, San Antonio, Texas

In his own words: I was born and raised in D’Hanis, Texas. I was baptized at Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church, which was the only church (Catholic or Protestant) in my hometown. After graduating from D’Hanis High School, I entered the work force and started attending Our Lady of the Atonement. It was in this period that I heard the call to enter the seminary while praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament, which had never crossed my mind until then. I worked as a teacher and assistant choir director at Our Lady of the Atonement Parish and the Atonement Academy before my current seminary studies for the Ordinariate at Saint Mary’s Seminary. In the Saint Mary’s Seminary community, I have been active as assistant music coordinator, fill-in organist, and head music coordinator. I have also had the privilege of assisting with the Christian Initiation classes and serving as acolyte in the subdiaconal ministry at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham. Praised be God for His great works!

Favorite scripture: Paul’s words to the Ephesians (4:1-3) have always resounded within my soul: “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” While my call to the seminary and priesthood was not always clear, it was always clear to me that regardless of my state of life I was called to be a saint. In responding to this call to holiness, my central focus, indeed the focus of every single Christian, must be to conform ourselves to the image and the most holy will of God. In doing so, man fosters virtue and unity with those he encounters and communion with the Mystical Body of Christ. This is the scripture by which I attempt to fashion my life so that one day, I may join the choirs of angels in singing the eternal “Sanctus.”

Nathan Davis
Theology III
St. Mary’s Seminary, Houston, Texas
Home Parish: Mount Calvary, Baltimore, Maryland

In his own words: I was born in Tulsa, OK, and I grew up in both Michigan and Florida. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering from Villanova University. I worked as a Computer Engineer with the Department of Defense in Maryland for 13 years. Before that, I served in the U.S. Army for four years at Fort Lewis, Washington. I was raised in the Episcopal Church, and felt my first call to the priesthood at the Church of the Redeemer (in Sarasota, Florida), where I was an altar server for many years. Other parishes that have been influential in my life are St. Paul’s (K Street) in Washington, D.C., and Good Shepherd in Rosemont, Pennsylvania. The St. Michael’s Conference (Northeast) also helped me grow as an Anglo-Catholic. I was received into full communion with the Catholic Church in 2012 with my home Ordinariate Parish, Mount Calvary Catholic Church (in Baltimore, Maryland). I began discerning my vocation to the priesthood at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and then transferred to St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston, Texas, to be close to Bishop Lopes and the Cathedral Parish of Our Lady of Walsingham. It is an honor, privilege, and a blessing to be a seminarian for the Ordinariate.
 
Favorite scripture: One of my favorite scripture passages is the Forty-Third Psalm, “Judica me, Deus,” which we say as a preparation for Mass. One phrase in the psalm says, “And that I may go unto the altar of God, even unto the God of my joy and gladness.” I have been saying this psalm almost all my life as an altar server and now in the Daily Office. The liturgical nature of its phrases reminds me of the Mass and the prime importance which worshipping God has in our lives as Christians. This psalm became especially alive and real to me when I was going through some difficult trials just before I entered seminary. In that struggle, the phrase that helped me most was, “O put thy trust in God; for I will yet give him thanks, which is the help of my countenance and my God.”

Roberto Brunel
College IV
University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas
Home Parish: Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, Texas

In his own words: I am a fourth-year college seminarian studying at the University of St. Thomas. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas, where I graduated from Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in 2015. During my senior year of high school, I began seriously discerning a possible vocation to the priesthood and a life of service to the Church. Through the intercession of Our Lady of Walsingham, I was brought into a deeper discernment through my home parish, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham. It was during this time that I discovered the beauty of our incredible mission of Christian unity and the preserving and sharing of our patrimony in the Church. Our beautiful Divine Worship form of the Mass is the source and summit of my life as a Christian, and I would love nothing more than to share its reverence and awe with the faithful for the rest of my life.
 
Favorite scripture:  My favorite scripture would have to be the institution of the Church on Peter in Matthew 16, when Jesus tells Peter, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” This scripture is very special to me, as it was this realization of the authority and trustworthiness of the Church and her teachings that was so liberating for me in my life and pilgrimage of faith. I know many who have come into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Personal Ordinariates find solace and comfort in this truth.

Robb Lester
College IV
St. Joseph Seminary College, St. Benedict, Louisiana
Home Parish: Corpus Christi, Charleston, South Carolina

In his own words: I grew up in Charleston, South Carolina in the Episcopal Church. It was in the “High Church” parish that I attended as a young boy with my family, where I felt the first pull towards a vocation to the priesthood. While serving at church or in the food pantry at the parish, I felt this call to serve others and to show them the love of Christ. Father Allen and Father Sanderson, the priests at the parish, influenced this call within me through their acts of genuine love and care for everyone. This call has grown and continues to grow within me by seeing the trust and love my Parish priest has in God. Through his endless giving of himself to my family and my Parish family (at Corpus Christi Catholic Community in Charleston), I am coming to know more the genuine love that Christ calls us all to give to one another.

Favorite scripture: My favorite scripture comes from the Canticle of Zechariah, Luke 1:68-79. As it is said daily in our Liturgy of the Hours, I enjoy hearing the closing phrase, “to guide our feet into the way of peace.” This reminds me of our walk with Christ in the streets on Jerusalem to Golgotha. Though the crowd of the world will deafen us with noise and distract us, it is with Christ we are reminded and strengthened to walk with Him in the way of peace. Put yourself there for a moment; imagine walking with Him. The crowd is loud and distracting, but you do not notice it because you are with Him and the peace of his presence surrounds you. This verse reminds me that the path we take will not be easy, but it will be peaceful if we remain faithful to the way.

Patrick McCain
Theology II
Pontifical North American College, Rome, Italy
Home Parish: Incarnation Catholic Church, Orlando, Florida

In his own words: Growing up in rural south Georgia, my family attended a Southern Baptist church. In middle school, I came across the Book of Common Prayer. The prayer book gave me words when I didn’t know how to pray. During my freshman year of college, I formally joined the Episcopal Church and slowly drifted towards Anglo-Catholicism. Finally, I surrendered to the Lord and came into full communion with the Catholic Church at Easter 2008, just before graduating from college. Afterwards, I moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where I worked in health care and social services. In 2016, I began my seminary studies for the Ordinariate. Authentic Anglican spirituality is what most informs and nourishes my own spiritual practices, so I am blessed to have both that patrimony and to be in communion with the See of Peter. As an Ordinariate seminarian, I've served at five Parochial Communities in Florida and Maryland. It is a tremendous blessing to complete priestly formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Italy.

Favorite scripture: John 10:11-15 is currently my favorite passage: “I am the good shepherd [who] lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hireling … sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he … cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep…” Last year, a priest gave me an icon of Christ the Good Shepherd. It’s with me in Rome, and it reminds me that I am both a sheep and one called to be a shepherd. The Lord feeds, guides, and protects His sheep. He shepherds and provides for His people through the Church and the Sacraments. Through the ministry of the priest — who is himself an icon of Christ — the Lord gives life, feeds the faithful, binds up their wounds, and strengthens them. Let us never fail to pray for our priests; let us never fail to trust in the Lord’s goodness.