DALLAS. Trinitarian Reverend Juan Antonio Pérez Ojeda, O.SS.T, 48, has been appointed the new pastor of Santa Clara of Assisi Parish, effective July 1. He arrived in Dallas July 13. Former pastor Trinitarian Father Thomas Dymowski has been assigned as a formation director for postulants in the Trinitarian order in the Archdiocese of San Antonio.
“It is an entry-level program for religious life and it is designed to orient new vocations in the U.S. province,” he said. Father Dymowski has spent the majority of his 22 years of priesthood in formation with the Trinitarians.
Pastor for three years at Santa Clara, he said he would miss a lot of things.
“I would say that it is a very vibrant faith community,” Father Dymowski said. “Community and culture were the things I found life-giving and rewarding at Santa Clara.”
The parish was established in 1993 to address the spiritual needs of the Latino community in West Oak Cliff. Bishop Emeritus of Dallas Charles V. Grahmann was in the vanguard in the construction of the church, parish hall, Santa Clara Academy and the Calumet Center. Average attendance on Sundays is 3,711.
“I have worked in big parish before (Our Lady of Sorrows, in Victoria, Texas),” Father Perez Ojeda said. “So I’m used to working with large parishes.”
Father Perez Ojeda served as pastor at Christ the King Parish in Corpus Christi between 2001 and 2004, but when he arrives in Dallas he doesn’t expect to make many changes. “We have to see what is going on first,” he said. “And I have to be fair to the parish and members of the community. “
Father Perez Ojeda was born in Mexico City and comes from a large family. His parents had 15 children and he was the middle child. “You learn a lot of things from that,” Father Perez Ojeda said. “You have to learn about different personalities, and I learned how to be appreciative of what you have.”
He took his vows with the Trinitarians in 1986 and was ordained in 1988.
He learned his English while at seminary in Baltimore, MD. His last assignment from the order was working in formation in Victoria.
(Article provided by the Texas Catholic) |
