Lives of service: Jesuit jubilarians in Los Angeles

Retired Bishop Gordon Bennett is among a number of Jesuit priests who are celebrating milestone anniversaries of religious life in 2014. The following Jesuits all have connections in service to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

60 Years

Father William J. Fulco, professor of ancient Mediterranean studies at Loyola Marymount University, was born in Los Angeles in 1936, graduated from Loyola High School and entered the Jesuit novitiate at Los Gatos in 1954. He has degrees in Philosophy from Gonzaga University and Theology from Alma College (now the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University). He did graduate work at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, and has a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Language and Literature from Yale University.

Ordained a priest in 1966 at Blessed Sacrament Church, Hollywood, he has taught Near Eastern Studies and Semitics at the University of California, Berkeley, Old Testament at the Jesuit School of Theology and Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, as well as posts at the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Ecole Biblique, both in Jerusalem, the University of Judaism, and the University of Southern California. He has been at LMU since 1984.

Father Richard A. Robin, a native of San Francisco, graduated from St. Ignatius College Prep and attended the University of San Francisco before entering the Jesuit novitiate at Los Gatos in 1954. His Jesuit studies took him to Gonzaga University, Santa Clara University and USC.

He was ordained a priest in San Francisco in 1967, and has served mainly in Southern California, as a teacher at Loyola High School; administrator at LMU; assistant director of novices at the Jesuit Novitiate in Santa Barbara; and, since 1984, assistant to the president at LMU.

50 Years

Bishop Gordon D. Bennett, Bishop Emeritus of Mandeville, Jamaica, is the Peter Faber Fellow in Pastoral Theology and Ignatian Spirituality at LMU. The son of the late Rutherford Bennett and Thelma Bennett, he was born in Denver in 1946, graduated from Loyola High School, Los Angeles, in 1964, and entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Santa Barbara on Sept. 7, 1964.

He studied at LMU, Gonzaga University, Spokane, and the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley. He was ordained a priest at Blessed Sacrament Church, Hollywood, on June 14, 1975 by Bishop Robert Whalen, S.J. of Fairbanks.

He taught English, French, music and drama at Loyola High; served as assistant principal for campus ministry at St. Ignatius College Prep, San Francisco; principal and president of Loyola; and rector and director of novices for the California Province in Santa Barbara. In 1997 Pope John Paul II named auxiliary bishop of Baltimore, where he served as urban vicar. In 2004 he was named Bishop of Mandeville, retiring in 2008. In addition to his teaching, Bishop Bennett is a spiritual director and presenter of retreats.

Father Michael J. Mandala, a native of Los Angeles and the son of Sam and Rose Mandala, graduated from Cantwell High School and entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Los Gatos on Sept. 7, 1964. He studied at LMU, Spring Hill College, Alabama (Physics), the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley (Theology) and to Northwestern University, Evanston (Business). He was ordained a priest March 26, 1977 at St. Anne Church, Santa Ana, by Bishop William Johnson.

Father Mandala has taught physics and math at St. Ignatius College Prep, San Francisco, has done community organizing in Santa Ana and Oakland, and has served as provincial assistant for Social and Pastoral Ministries for the California Jesuits. He served as pastor of Christ the King Church, San Diego, and Blessed Sacrament Church, Hollywood. Since 2011 he has been assistant to the president for community relations at Verbum Dei High School in Watts.

25 Years

Father Stephen A. Barber, the younger brother of Oakland Bishop Michael C. Barber, S.J., was born in San Francisco in 1956 and graduated from Jesuit High School, Sacramento, and Loyola Marymount University. He entered the Jesuit Novitiate in Santa Barbara in 1989 and was ordained a priest in San Francisco in 1998.

His ministries have included teaching and drama production at Brophy College Prep, Phoenix; campus minister and Theology teacher at Loyola High School, Los Angeles; and chaplain at California State Prison, San Quentin (2003-11). He is currently director of the Cura Personalis student life skills mentoring program at Verbum Dei High School, and assistant director of admissions at Loyola High School.

Father Tri Dinh was born in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1965. He graduated from high school in Garland, Texas and received a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Rice University, before entering the Jesuit novitiate at Santa Barbara in 1989. He studied at Weston School of Theology, Cambridge, Mass., and was ordained a priest at Blessed Sacrament Church, Hollywood, in 2000.

He has taught science at Jesuit High School, Sacramento, done pastoral ministry in the Philippines, and served as campus minister at LMU. Since 2007 he has been involved as ecclesial assistant for the Christian Life Communities, first in Oakland, and, since 2010, based at LMU, for the Northwestern and Western Regions.

Father John Galvan was born in San Luis de la Paz, Guanajuato, Mexico in 1957. He graduated from Montgomery High School, Santa Rosa, California, and received a degree in Agriculture and Environmental Science at the University of California, Davis. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, in 1989, returning to California for theological studies at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley in 1994.

Ordained a priest in Rio Piedras in 1999, his ministry has been centered in Southern California and Arizona. He worked with the Jesuit Refugee Service as a chaplain at the INS detention centers in Lancaster and Florence, Arizona, as associate pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, San Diego, and since 2009, as campus minister at LMU.

Father Scott R. Santarosa was born in Tahoe Valley, Calif., in 1966, graduated from Jesuit High School, Sacramento, and received a degree in Civil Engineering from Santa Clara University. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in Santa Barbara in 1989, studied philosophy at Fordham University and theology at the Jesuit School of Theology, and was ordained a priest in Blessed Sacrament Church, Hollywood, in 2000.

His ministries have included teaching religion and philosophy at Bellarmine College Prep, San Jose, teaching theology and serving as campus minister and director of development at Verbum Dei High School, Watts, and pastor of Dolores Mission, Boyle Heights (2007-14). He became provincial of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus on July 31.