Six Jesuits newly ordained as priests have ties to SCU, including a chaplain of Berkeley’s fire department.
Priests sometimes have to, metaphorically, put out fires. Lukas M. Laniauskas, S.J., M.Div. ’14 did it for real in graduate school. While studying at Santa Clara’s Jesuit School of Theology, he served as chaplain of the Berkeley Fire Department—responding to emergencies and attending to the spiritual needs of firefighters. He was one of six Jesuits with SCU ties ordained this summer. Two of them—35-year-old Brent H. Otto, S.J., M.Div. ’14, STL ’15, from Framingham, Massachusetts, and Erick Berrelleza, S.J., 32, from Los Angeles, said the attacks on 9/11 were a factor in their considering becoming priests. Berrelleza is a member of the SCU Board of Trustees. Julian A. Climaco, S.J., M.Div. ’15, 40, and Martin O. Silva, S.J., M.Div. ’15, 53, were born in the Philippines. In Sacramento, Fr. Climaco taught choral music at a Jesuit high school. Fr. Silva worked 18 years in corporate finance. Quang D. Tran, S.J., M.Div. ’14, STL ’15, 30, from New Orleans, has taught in Macau, China.
