Parochial Administrator

Dear Parishioners of St David of Wales,

I am Fr Benedict Pradit Wonganant or you can call me Fr Ben. I was ordained to the priesthood on May 18, 2013. I was born into a large Catholic family, in a Catholic village in the northeast of Thailand. I have two older brothers and two older sisters and four younger sisters. I am the middle child. My brothers and sisters, all of them, are married. One of them is living in Petaluma/Santa Rosa. My Dad passed away 19 years ago (2000).

The life of the village as well as that of my family was always Church centered. We not only went to Mass on Sunday but we would be in Church almost every morning and most evenings. Our parish school was staffed by Sisters who were very attentive to our learning and faith and they encouraged us to think about becoming priests.

The desire to be a priest came to me very early and at the age of twelve my family sent me to study in the city of Ubon, which is about sixty miles from our village. My next step was to move near to Bangkok (capital city) which is many hundreds of miles from my home to study more as there was much for me to learn. I had to work very hard to make a living and worked in the fruit and vegetable market where I gained a lot of experience meeting many different people.

The desire to be a priest stayed with me all the time. When I was asked by a priest friend (Fr. Terence O’ Malley) if I would like to become a priest in the Diocese of Oakland, I felt that God was answering my prayers.

I studied at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park for six years and Graduated with a Master of Divinity (M.Div). I am happy and enjoy life here and am thankful that I am gaining knowledge and the grace that will help me to do what I believe God desires of me. I love meeting people and find that people here in the United States are not unlike the people at home and people elsewhere.

I am happy and proud to be here at St David of Wales to work with all of you and of course I need your help and cooperation. I am entirely new to this parish and I ask each and every one you to please pray for me in this transition. I promise with the help of God’s grace to do my best to serve you well. Every one of you will be in my Masses. This is my 5th parish assignment, having served as parochial vicar at St Patrick (Rodeo), St Mary (Walnut Creek), St Leander (San Leandro), St Edward (Newark), and now as parochial administrator at St David (Richmond) with all of you.

Again Please keep me in your prayers, so that I may always do God’s will.

Yours in Christ, Fr Ben