RICH GARCIA: I continued on through St. Joseph/St. Patrick College. Then on to St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park. My dad died in December of 1972. I was ordained a priest in June 1973 by Archbishop McGucken, in San Jose. I served in various parishes/capacities in the former Archdiocese of San Francisco, then in the new diocese of San Jose.

I studied in Rome for four years. My area of concentration was Spiritual Theology. Upon my return to the United States, I spent seven years teaching at both St. Patrick's Seminary and St. Joseph's College (even during the 1989 earthquake).

Then I served as pastor at St. Leo's Parish in San Jose. My mother died in 2001, after suffering a stroke five years before.

And now, for the past eight years, I have served as Auxiliary Bishop in the Diocese of Sacramento. I love the people here. I also travel a lot because our diocese covers twenty counties. It is interesting to know that the Diocese of Sacramento is larger in geographical area than the country of Ireland.

These past few years have been challenging but I feel that I have grown through the varied experiences. My family still lives in the Bay Area, so I do get to see them as often as I can.

I hope you and yours are doing well. God bless you.

pgrab@dioceseofmonterey.org---(via his secretary)