God's plans for each of us are so amazing, more incredible than anything we could plan for ourselves. In my own life, a vocation to the priesthood was not something that I had considered seriously growing up. My goals at that time included becoming a doctor, getting married, and having a family.
I grew up in Turlock and was an active parishioner at Our Lady of the Assumption.
After finishing high school, I went on to study microbiology at the University of California at Davis. After graduating, I went to medical school at Touro University in Vallejo. During that time I began to feel that God was calling me in a different direction, to something more, not to be a medical doctor, but a physician of souls.
As I was finishing medical school, I felt that God was calling me to the priesthood and the religious life. I entered Miles Christi, a religious order founded in Argentina, where I spent the next six years in formation. After discerning that God was calling me to the diocesan priesthood and back to my home diocese, I entered the seminary and am now studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. I am so grateful to God for giving me the grace of a vocation to the holy priesthood and am looking forward to serving the people of the Diocese of Stockton.
God bless, Larry