MEET OUR NEW SEMINARIAN

My name is Carlos Andres Vargas Hernandez and I am from Barranquilla, which is in the northern part of Columbia. My father is Carlos Alberto Vargas Hernandez and my mother is Luz Elena Hernandez Manes. My parents were not very spiritual however, I grew up with my grandmother who taught me how to pray the rosary. We prayed it together every day. Growing up, my parish Church was St. Dominic where I became an altar server. This gave me the opportunity to see what priests do at Church and elsewhere. I met a couple of priests who inspired me and reinforced my vocation to become a priest. They gave me both spiritual and economic support in addition to helping me with my first year of formation in Columbia. God, in His mysterious ways, lead me to accept a call to come to the United States. I was given a residence at St. Margaret of Scotland parish in Morristown while I studied English at Rutgers in Newark. That was a year ago last February. I never wanted to learn English because of all the rules of grammar and punctuation but Rutgers helped me to see that it wasn’t as hard as I thought. I am also learning about American culture. Recently, I was asked to leave Morristown for Kinnelon. I don’t know how long I will be here but I am very happy to be in an English speaking community. It will help me perfect my English and learn about American ways. I believe it is God’s will that has brought me here. Please keep me and all seminarians in the Diocese of Paterson in your prayers. I promise to remember you in mine. On August 21st, I will enter the College Seminary of the Immaculate Conception (Saint Andrew’s Hall) at Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J. Right now, I do not know how often I will return to the parish. Time will tell.