St. John Vianney Catholic Church:

4600 Hyland Avenue, San Jose CA 95127-2402
(408) 258-7832 (Parish Office)    (408) 258-6152 (Fax)
Directions

Pastor:

Fr. Francisco Rios   (408) 258-7832  x15     

Our pastor, Father Francisco Rios, was born May 2, 1963 in Santa Elena, Entre Rios, Argentina, the sixth son of seven children. He grew up in a small town along the Parana River with plenty of opportunity to fish and swim. Educated at Catholic schools, as a young man he abandoned the faith in favor of basketball, music, dancing and fun. However, at the end of his high school education he attended a retreat at a Benedictine monastery. He didn't want to go to the retreat but his mother talked him into it. After that he found himself drawn to the 
religious life. After the retreat, he went back to his previous fun-loving activities but he did talk with one of his friends about becoming a monk. He remembers being a pretty superficial guy at that point in his life.

After he finished high school, young Francisco went to Buenos Aires, the big city. Tired of school, he spent a year working a minimum wage job and playing basketball. A year later he returned home, where he followed his mother's advice and studied to become a teacher. He met two priests who tried to convince him to get involved in church, but he was not ready to change his life. After some time, with prodding from priest friends, they realized his call to the priesthood. Eventually, he started to travel around the countryside with a priest friend, visiting the sick, saying Mass for the farmers, and baptizing their children. This friendship, along with visits to the sick in hospitals and in their homes, renewed his interest in the priesthood. 

When Francisco finally expressed his interest in the priesthood to his Spiritual Director, he was introduced to Fr. Carlos Buela, who was founding a new congregation, the Institute of the Incarnate Word. In 1985, after working for a few months as a teacher, Francisco entered the new religious order in San Rafael, Mendoza, some 750 miles from his home. There he studied and was ordained a priest on December 22, 1991. During his time in the Seminary, Francisco had different apostolates: rural mission, city mission, teaching catechism, taking 
Holy Communion to the sick, work with the Legion of Mary, and teaching Spanish and Geography in a Secondary school. After his ordination, Fr. Francisco served as Prefect of Discipline in the Seminary, as Chaplain for nuns at the hospital, and as economist of the Seminarians (money collector, like Saint Matthew). In 1992, he came to the U.S., staying one year in Brooklyn, New York, studying English, and assisting with Spanish liturgies, (and, of course, playing a lot of basketball). 

In 1994, Fr. Francisco was assigned to San Jose, as associate pastor for St. Maria Goretti parish, under Fr. Kevin Joyce. After that, he was stationed at St. Leo the Great Parish, working with Fr. Rich Garcia, who is now auxiliary Bishop in Sacramento. While there, he also spent two years doing Detention Ministry. Fr. Francisco served as pastor of St. Leo's for six years. In 2003, after eight years in San Jose, Fr. Francisco decided to separate from the Institute of the Incarnate Word, and became a diocesan priest in the Diocese of San Jose. He then spent one more year at St. Maria Goretti before being assigned as pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea in Alviso only two years ago. 

Please welcome Fr. Francisco as our new pastor, and maybe shoot some baskets with him. 

(Source:  This article appeared in our Summer 2006 Discipleship Magazine.)

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