The
Archdiocese of Portland is announcing its 2015 clergy reassignments.
The changes take effect July 1 unless noted otherwise. Here are the new
assignments: PASTORS
Father Brian Allbright
New assignment: Pastor, St. Cyril, Wilsonville
Previous assignment: Administrator, Sacred Heart, Newport
Father Allbright was born in 1953 in Portland. He attended Central Catholic High School, the Oregon College of Education in Monmouth and the Maryknoll School of Theology in Maryknoll, N.Y. He was ordained in 1983 by Cardinal Terrance Cooke for the Maryknoll Missioners.
He traveled to Guatemala, where he was pastor of San Antonio in Sayaxche until 1987. He served as pastor at a refugee camp in Honduras for two years and pastor in a Honduras community for six years. Father Allbright worked in Seattle and then Los Angeles promoting the Maryknoll mission work. He came to Portland in 2001, serving as parochial vicar at St. Joseph in Salem, then St. Anne in Portland, and then as administrator of St. Alexander, Cornelius before beginning service in Newport.
Father Martin King
New assignment: Pastor, St. Thomas More, Portland. On sabbatical until Dec. 1.
Previous assignment: special assignment, military leave
Father King, 60, was raised in a Catholic family in Lorain, Ohio. Before entering seminary, he served in the U.S. Air Force for a decade as a transportation management officer and an Air Force training instructor in the U.S., Korea and The Philippines.
While in seminary, he remained in the Air Force Reserves.
He was ordained in 1996 for the Archdiocese for Military Services, but was affiliated with the Archdiocese of Portland. Military chaplains return to their affiliated dioceses when they retire from the military.
In 1999, Father King returned to the Air Force, this time as a chaplain, starting at MacDill Air Base in Tampa Fla., where he was spiritual guide for 2,500 men and women, plus Catholic retirees in the area. His last assignment was as chaplain at the U.S. Air Force base in Geilenkirchen, Germany.
Father Jeff Meeuwsen
New assignment: Pastor, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Aloha
Previous assignment: Study, North American College, Rome
Father Meeuwsen was born in Hillsboro in 1977. He attended St. Francis of Assisi School in Roy and graduated from Valley Catholic High in 1995. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1999 from Gonzaga University in Spokane. He entered Mount Angel Seminary in the fall of 2001. His ministry has included work at Sacred Heart Elementary School, Gervais, St. Joseph the Worker Parish, Portland, Blanchet High School, Salem and St. Cecilia Parish, Beaverton. He earned a master’s degree and a master of divinity degree at Mount Angel Seminary in 2007. Before entering Mount Angel Seminary, he taught at Visitation Catholic School in Verboort.
He has served at St. Edward , North Plains, St. Anthony, Forest Grove, and Sacred Heart, Medford.
Father Louis Urbanski
New assignment: Pastor, St. Edward, North Plains
Previous assignment: Pastor, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Aloha
Father Urbanski, who turns 77 on June 19, was born in Atkinson, Neb. He attended Central Catholic High School in Portland, graduating in 1956 and began studies at the University of Portland before beginning at Mount Angel Seminary. He did advanced studies at University of Portland, Portland State University, University of Oregon and St. John’s College in Collegeville, Minn.
He was ordained in 1964 at St. Mary Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception by Archbishop Edward Howard.
Father Urbanski taught in Catholic high schools for the first decade of his priesthood, living and helping at St. Charles, St. Rose, St. Peter and St. Pius X parishes and then served as principal of Regis High in Stayton and Valley Catholic in Beaverton.
As a parish priest, he served at St. Therese and St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Portland before taking the post in Aloha.
ADMINISTRATORS
Father Mark Gikenyi
New assignment: Administrator, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Rainier/St. John the Baptist, Clatskanie
Previous assignment: Administrator, St. Cyril, Wilsonville
Father Mark Gikenyi was born in 1978 in Kisii South (Gucha), Kenya. He graduated from the Salvatorian Institute of Philosophy and Theology in Morogoro, Tanzania, in 2005 and entered Mount Angel Seminary in 2006. His ministry preparation in Oregon has included All Saints, Portland, St. John, Milwaukie, St. Mary, Corvallis, and Our Lady of Sorrows, Southeast Portland. He has previously served at St. John the Baptist, Milwaukie.
Father William Palmer
New assignment: Administrator, Sacred Heart, Newport/St. Mary Siletz
Previous assignment: Parochial Vicar, St. Mary, Eugene
Father Palmer was born in 1960 in Cottage Grove. He graduated from Cottage Grove High School in 1978. He received a bachelor of arts in religious studies from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukie, Wisconsin in 2003. That year, he also earned a master of divinity degree from the Sacred Heart School of Theology.
He was ordained in the Diocese of Tyler, Texas in 2003. His last assignment was as pastor of Mary Queen of Heaven Parish in Malakoff, Texas.
PAROCHIAL VICARS
Father Eric Andersen
New assignment: Parochial Vicar, St. Stephen, Portland
Previous assignment: Parochial vicar, Holy Trinity Church, Bandon
Father Andersen was born in 1967. He attended the University of Oregon and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in theater in 1990. He completed a master’s degree and a sacred theology bachelor’s degree at Mount Angel Seminary and was ordained in 2009 by Archbishop John Vlazny.
He has served at Our Lady of the Mountain in Ashland, Christ the King in Milwaukie, St. John the Baptist in Milwaukie, St. Cecilia in Beaverton, Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Verboort, Sacred Heart in Medford, St. Mary in Eugene and Sacred Heart-St. Louis in Gervais.
Father Scott Baier
New assignment: Parochial vicar, St. Luke, Woodburn.
He was ordained on June 5 by Archbishop Sample.
Father Baier was born in 1978 in Edmonds, Wash. His family moved to the Portland area in 1983 and he graduated from Columbia River High School in 1996. He went on to study at the University of Washington in Seattle, doing a year’s study in St. Petersburg, Russia. He worked for several companies, including Catholic Community Services, St. Luke Productions and Safeway.
Father Baier entered Mount Angel Seminary in 2008. His pastoral assignments have included St. Philip Benizi Parish in Redland and The Madeleine Parish in Portland. He studied in Mexico and Costa Rica, and went through chaplain training at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. As a deacon he has served at St. Alexander Parish in Cornelius and St. Luke Parish in Woodburn.
Father Manuel Becerra
New assignment: Parochial vicar, St. Anthony, Tigard
He was ordained on June 5 by Archbishop Sample.
Father Becerra was born in 1977 in Cúcuta, Colombia. He attended elementary and secondary schools in Cúcuta, graduating from high school in 1995. He studied at the Universidad Francisco de Paul Santander in Cúcuta and the Universidad Minuto de Dios in Bogota. Rev. Mr. Becerra studied at the Congregation of Jesus and Mary Seminary in Bogota, and began studying for the Archdiocese of Portland in 2010, at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif. His ministry training assignments have included St. Luke Parish, Woodburn and clinical pastoral education at St. Joseph Medical Center, Tacoma, Wash. He has also served at Our Lady of the Lake Parish, Lake Oswego, St. Anthony Parish, Forest Grove, St. Edward Parish, North Plains, and St. Joseph Parish, Mountain View, Calif.
Father Fredy Bonilla
New assignment: Parochial vicar, St. Vincent de Paul, Salem
He was ordained on June 5 by Archbishop Sample.
Father Bonilla was born in 1982 in La Argentina, Colombia. He attended elementary and secondary schools in Al Argentina, graduating high school in 2001. He earned a degree in philosophy from Sepavi School in Medellin in 2004. He then attended the seminary Villa Paúl in Funza, Colombia, earning a theology degree in 2008. He entered Mount Angel Seminary in 2011 and has been serving at The Madeleine Parish in Northeast Portland.
Father Gregg Bronsema
New Assignment: Parochial vicar, St. Thomas More, Portland, July 1-Sept. 15
He was ordained on June 5 by Archbishop Sample.
Father Bronsema was born in 1956 in Chicago. He graduated from Portland Christian High School in 1975 then earned an architecture degree at the University of Oregon. He graduated in 1986 from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. and ministered at Portland Foursquare Church from 1986 to 1993. He worked for Christian Supply Center in Portland until his entrance into Mount Angel Seminary for pre-theology studies in 2009. He completed the bachelor’s degree in theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome in 2014.
Father Timothy Furlow
New assignment: Parochial vicar, St. Juan Diego, Portland, July 1-Sept. 15
He was ordained on June 5 by Archbishop Sample.
Father Furlow was born in 1982 in Portland. He attended Holy Trinity School in Beaverton and graduated from a homeschool program in 2000. He attended the University of Portland from 2000-’02 before moving to Azerbaijan to teach English. In 2004, he began studies at the Franciscan University of Steubenville and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in theology and philosophy in 2007. That same year he began youth ministry work at St. Cecilia Parish in Beaverton, where he worked until entering Mount Angel Seminary in 2010. He transferred to Pontifical North American College in Rome, earning a baccalaureate in sacred theology in 2013. He has been pursuing a licentiate in moral theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Father George Kuforiji
New assignment: Parochial vicar, Holy Trinity, Bandon/St. John, Port Orford.
He was ordained on June 5 by Archbishop Sample.
Father Kuforiji was born in 1951 in Oshogbo, Nigeria. He attended elementary school at St. Benedict School in Oshogbo and graduated from St. Joseph College High School in Ondo in 1969. He studied at the University of Washington in Seattle, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1983. Prior to entering the seminary, he worked with the Oregon Department of Transportation. He entered the seminary in 2010, and was installed as a lector and an acolyte in 2013. He studied theology at the Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wis. His ministry training has included assignments at St. Vincent Church in Salem, St. Francis of Assisi in Milwaukee, Wis., and chaplain’s training at St. Joseph Hospital in Tacoma, Wash.
Father Julio Cesar Torres Montejo
New assignment: Parochial vicar, St. Anthony, Tigard
Previous Assignment: Parochial vicar, St. Joseph, Salem
Father Montejo was born in Cardenas, Tabasco, Mexico in 1982. He attended elementary and secondary schools in Aqua Dulce, Veracruz, Mexico, graduating high school in 2000. He studied at the Major Seminary of Mary Immaculate earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 2004 and a bachelor’s degree in theology in 2007. He earned a master of divinity from the Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wis., in 2014. He was ordained a priest by Archbishop Sample in 2014.
His ministry training includes a pastoral year at St. John the Apostle Parish in Oregon City.
Father Leonard Omolo, ALCP
New assignment: Parochial vicar, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Albany
Previous Assignment: Parochial vicar, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Portland
Father Omolo was born in 1972 in Kisumu, Kenya. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology in 2005. He was ordained in 2007 in the Archdiocese of Kisumu for the order of the Apostolic Life Community of Priests Holy Spirit Fathers. He spent a year and a half in his last assignment as assistant priest in Rombo, Tanzania for the Diocese of Moshi.
Father Edgar Rivera
New assignment: Parochial vicar, St. Mary, Eugene.
He was ordained June 5 by Archbishop Alexander Sample.
Father Rivera was born in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico, in 1981. He attended elementary and secondary schools in Tepic, graduating high school in 1998. He attended the Universidad Autonoma de Nayarit in Tepic, where he earned a degree in accounting in 2004. He entered the Seminario Hispano de Santa Maria de Guadalupe in Mexico City in 2004. He attended the Instituto de Estudios Ecclesiasticos where he earned a degree in philosophy in 2007. He later enrolled at Mount Angel Seminary. His ministry training has included an assignment at St. Luke Parish, Woodburn, clinical pastoral education in Washington, D.C, and a pastoral year at St. Edward Parish, North Plains and at St. Alexander, Cornelius.
Father Edwin Sanchez
New assignment: Parochial Vicar, St. Joseph, Salem.
He was ordained on June 5 by Archbishop Sample.
Father Sanchez was born in 1985 in Bogota, Colombia. He attended elementary and secondary schools in Pitalito, Huila, Colombia, graduating high school in 2002. He entered the Seminary Maria Immaculada where he studied philosophy. He attended St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 2010. He continued his studies at St. Patrick’s Seminary.
Father Ben Tapia
New assignment: Parochial vicar, St. Henry, Gresham
Previous assignment: Parochial vicar, St. Edward, North Plains
Father Tapia was born in 1982 in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. He attended elementary and secondary schools in Tijuana, graduating in 2000 and studied at the Instituto Superior de Estudios Ecleciasticos, earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 2004. He attended St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, Calif., where he earned a master’s degree in spirituality in 2011 and a master of divinity degree in 2012.
His ministry has included work with a youth group in Mexico City, working with the poor in Colombia, at Queen of Peace in Salem, as a Jesuit Volunteer in Spain, at St. Patrick in Carlsbad, Calif., at Sharp Mercy Hospital in San Diego, at St. James in Solana Beach, Calif. and at St. John Eudes in Chatsworth, Calif.
He was ordained by Archbishop Vlazny at St. Mary Cathedral in 2012.
He has previously served at St. Edward, North Plains, St. Alexander, Cornelius, and Sacred Heart, Medford.
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