Fr. Clarence Sandoval celebrates 25th anniversary

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

Father Clarence Sandoval, pastor, celebrates Mass at Saint Rose of Lima Parish July 29. IC photo/Christine Young

LAYTON — Father Clarence J. Sandoval, pastor of Saint Rose of Lima Parish, will celebrate his 25th anniversary of priestly ordination on Aug. 21.

Fr. Sandoval was born in San Luis, Colo., and grew up in Stockton, Utah, near Tooele. He was a member of Saint Marguerite Parish and a graduate of Tooele High School. Upon his graduation during the Vietnam War era, his plans for college changed when his draft number was three. He volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army for two years from 1972-1973.

While in the service, he went to school at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana. From there he was sent to Korea near the Demilitarized Zone to work for the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division.

After being honorably discharged, Fr. Sandoval received bachelor’s degrees in education and psychology from Utah State University. He taught in the Logan area for a year and was planning to go into clinical psychology when he decided to join the Peace Corps for two years in 1979, he said.

In the Peace Corps, Fr. Sandoval worked as an intern supervisor at the National Training College in the southern Africa nation of Lesotho, training teachers during the summer and traveling throughout the area to supervise teachers during the school year, he said. "The schools did not have electricity, running water or school supplies, but they did their best to teach the children."

Fr. Sandoval first considered a vocation to the priesthood during his time in the Peace Corps. "I had not thought about it before then," he said. "In Africa, there were no cell phones, radios, televisions or the Internet; there was just time to get to know the people, the language and the culture, and time to think and reflect upon my life’s journey and what was important to me.

"I thought about everything that God has given me and how I could give back," he said. "So when I ended my time with the Peace Corps, I went to Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon to see if God was calling me to the priesthood."

Fr. Sandoval was ordained Aug. 21, 1987 in the Cathedral of the Madeleine by Bishop William K. Weigand. His first assignment was as parochial vicar for two years at Notre Dame de Lourdes Parish in Price. In 1989, he was assigned as pastor of Saint Elizabeth Parish in Richfield for six years.

"I was given the task to build the church in Richfield and the missions in Torrey and Ephraim," he said. "This was a difficult experience because I was isolated and I was traveling anywhere from 40,000 to 50,000 miles each year, and about 500 miles on the weekends to the missions and the correctional facility in Gunnison."

Fr. Sandoval was then pastor at Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish in Logan from 1995 to 2011. His major goal there was fundraising to build a new church, he said.

"There also was a large number of Spanish-speaking people from Cache Valley as well as a diverse group of students and faculty from Utah State University that I welcomed," he said. "I had an opportunity to get to know a lot of cultures and different languages. During the Easter celebration we prayed the Prayers of the Faithful in about 13 different languages."

Throughout Fr. Sandoval’s 25 years as a priest he has witnessed a large number of Latinos coming into the Catholic community and a large number of fallen away Catholics returning to the faith, he said.

"When Catholics leave the Church for various reasons, they later ask questions, search and finally return to God. We have to be prepared for them and welcome them," Fr. Sandoval said.

As a priest, Fr. Sandoval has learned humility, he said. "When I was in Africa, I learned to listen more to the people. When we became friends, then we could work together. As a priest, I apply that to my ministry. I listen to God and he speaks through the people and tells me what I need to do as a priest and pastor. My only call is to bring the people to God and let him do his job."