KERNERSVILLE — Oblate of St. Francis de Sales Father Paul Dechant, pastor of Holy Cross Church in Kernersville, celebrated his silver anniversary as a priest in May.
Father Paul, as he likes to be called, is a native of Victorville, Calif., in the southern Mojave Desert just north of San Bernardino. Growing up, his family attended St. Joan of Arc Parish and then Our Lady of the Desert Parish in Apple Valley, Calif. He attended seminary at The Catholic University of America, where he earned a Master of Divinity.
Father Paul was drawn to the spirituality of Sts. Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal and thus pursued a vocation as an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales.
He was ordained at St. Paul the Apostle Church in New York City by Bishop Roberto Gonzalez, the auxiliary bishop of Boston at the time.
Over the past 25 years, Father Paul served in campus ministry at UCLA and also served parishes in Portland, Ore.; Memphis, Tenn.; New York City; Vienna, Va.; Reston, Va.; Ft. Myers, Fla.; and Greensboro before coming to Kernersville.
What does he enjoy most about serving as a priest?
"The privilege of being with people at the most significant moments in their life journey," he says.
And as for his experiences in serving as a priest around the country? Father Paul loves "seeing how people live their Catholic faith when in the majority and when in the minority."
The most important lesson he has learned over the past 25 years of priesthood is that "there is never a need to rush or be in a hurry. God is never in a hurry."
He also has some advice for men discerning a vocation to the priesthood: "Discernment takes time. Give yourself the time to understand God's plan for you."
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
CHARLOTTE — Father Gabriel Carvajal-Salazar, parochial vicar at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte, celebrated the fifth anniversary of his priestly ordination June 5.
The oldest of 15 brothers and sisters, Father Carvajal-Salazar first came to the Diocese of Charlotte as lay missionary in 1997 from Veracruz, Mexico, where he grew up. "My uncle Silviano Jaimes, who lives in Asheboro, invited me to teach apologetics at Our Lady of the Americas there," he recalled.
Pictured: Father Gabriel Carvajal-Salazar, parochial vicar at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte, celebrated the fifth anniversary of his priestly ordination June 5. (Rico De Silva | Catholic News Herald)
The priest had been a full-time lay catechist with the Apostles of the Word, an ecclesiastical movement founded by Father Flaviano Amatulli, an Italian priest who has lived in Mexico since the 1960s. Father Carvajal-Salazar helped catechized several dioceses in Mexico in the 1980s and '90s before coming to Biscoe. Soon after his arrival at Our Lady of the Americas, Father Mark Lawlor, pastor at the time, suggested that he consider the priesthood. However, it wasn't until 2002 that he finally decided to pursue his vocation, after pastor Father Ricardo Sanchez encouraged him to speak with the vocations director at the time, Father John Allen.
"Father Ricardo cut my umbilical cord so I could finally make the decision to go to the seminary... One day, he just picked up the phone, called the vocations director, talked to him briefly and proceeded to hand me the phone saying, 'Here he is, talk to him.'" Although considered by many, including himself, as a late vocation – he entered the seminary at 41 – once he met with the vocations director, he immediately felt at home.
"I remember being so nervous then, but after he interviewed me, Father Allen gave me a big hug and said, 'Gabriel, welcome to the Diocese of Charlotte!'" he recalls.During his discernment process, he found great consolation in Jesus' words in the Gospel of John 6:44: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them." And John 15:16: "You did not choose me, but I chose you."
"In my case, I don't think it was my decision to become a priest. God's the one who calls, and it's up to me to accept the invitation or not. No one is able to get into (the priesthood) if God doesn't call him," he said.
Celebrating the Eucharist and being able to be an instrument of God's mercy in the sacrament of reconciliation have given him the most satisfaction during his first five years of ministry. "Sanctifying the people of God with the sacraments has given me great joy as a priest," he said.
Father Carvajal-Salazar said we are at a critical time in Church history and the biggest challenge for priests moving forward is that "the world is waiting to be evangelized. We have thousands of baptized Catholics who have been abandoned – without the Eucharist, without the sacraments – and that's how they die. This is a huge challenge for the Church, and at the same time for those of us who have been called to work on the Lord's vineyard: What are we going to do to properly care for the people of God?"
— Rico De Silva, Hispanic Communications Reporter