Today we’d like to introduce you to Fr. Francis Orozco.
Hi Fr. Francis, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I was born and raised in Oklahoma City, OK. My family is Catholic, and we practice the faith regularly. Shortly after college, I got a job with State National (statenational.com) in Bedford, Texas. I was new to the DFW Metroplex and plugged into the young adult Catholic community in DFW. It was through going to different young adult events that I met the Dominican Friars in Irving. The Dominican friars are a Catholic religious order founded in 1216. The Dominicans live in community, and their mission is to preach wherever they are needed for the salvation of souls. After a period of inquiry and discernment, I began the process to be a Dominican friar in 2009. I was ordained a priest in 2015, and after a couple of assignments, I was asked to the Master of Novices in the Fall of 2020.
As the Master of Novices, I oversee the formation of men who are at the beginning of the process to be a Dominican friar (known as novices), where I was in 2009.
The novitiate is a year dedicated to living Dominican life in a deliberate way – through prayer, study, and living in community. Our novitiate is located at St. Albert the Great Priory in Irving, Texas. During the novitiate year, the novice comes to a better understanding of Dominican life through:
-Experiencing communal and personal prayer
-Daily participation in the Mass
-Living community life
-Ministerial experience
-Classes on our history, saints, constitutions, spirituality, and the vows
-Attending workshops and conferences relevant to religious life
During this year, the novice experiences all aspects of religious life. He grows in his ability to balance action and reflection, prayer and service, community and solitude.
Every August, a new group of men is sent to our priory in Irving, Texas.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I never thought that I would be asked to be the Master of Novices. Early on in formation, I learned to let go of whatever plans I may have and to trust in God’s care and providence. If it were up to me, I probably would have chosen to be a missionary somewhere where the faith needs to be spread. But as I went through our formation, through studies, through different experiences over the summers, I learned that a lot of work needs to be done “at home.”
I am blessed in that I have the support of family and friends, but regularly, I would be asked if I was happy, if this is something that I was sure about. Discerning a call to religious life in our society today is not always seen as positive. You don’t have to look too far to read or hear about scandals and criminal behavior in the Church. Being in formation for the priesthood in this milieu made me question my motivations and intentions. I knew that this would not be an easy life. The more I prayed and studied, the more sure I was of my calling. One of the hardest parts of our life is the vow of obedience – the voluntary giving of our will to God manifested through our religious superiors. All through grade school, high school, and college, and even working after college, the message has been to be independent, a leader, to stand out from the crowd, etc. But as a Dominican, I was voluntarily vowing obedience to a religious order, a way of life, where I would not know where I would be in 1 year, 2 years, 10 years.
I cannot pinpoint the moment, but a few years into the process of becoming a priest, I said that if I was going to commit to this, I would be fully committed. Wherever I was sent, I would joyfully minister to the best of my ability.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Perhaps the most important part to note of my work, my vocation, is that I do not do it alone. I am the priest in charge of the formation of our novices, those men who are in their first year of becoming Dominican friars, but the community that I live with is a large part of the process of helping the novices in their discernment.
Our community, St. Albert the Great Priory, originally formed in the late 1950s to serve as chaplains and professors of theology and philosophy at the University of Dallas. In the early 1960s, the friars also served on staff at Bishop Lynch Catholic High School. We are a unique community due to our designation as a House of Formation.
We are not a parish or Church; technically we are a convent, and our chapel is open to all Catholics in the area for the daily celebration of Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you, and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Perhaps the biggest lesson we learned from covid-19 crisis is that people will always want to hear from their friends. Many people from the surrounding area appreciated our calls just to see how they were doing and our emails giving updates. Now that we are fully open, we continue our efforts to communicate regularly with our friends and visitors.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.opdallas.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/dominicansdallas
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/opdallas
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/opsouth
