March 20, 2024 — Fr. Chu Ngo, SJ, and Fr. Isidro Lépez, SJ, of Jesuits West, both recently pronounced final vows in the Society of Jesus at two separate Masses.
Fr. Ngo pronounced final vows in the Rossi Chapel at the Jesuit Retreat Center of Los Altos in California on February 21. Fr. Sean Carroll, SJ, provincial of Jesuits West, received Fr. Ngo’s final vows in place of Fr. Arturo Sosa, SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus.
Fr. Ngo is a retreat director and a supervisor of various remodeling projects at the Jesuit Retreat Center. He entered the Society in 1993 and was ordained in 2007. As a priest, he has served as a retreat director in a suburb of Saigon; at Most Holy Trinity Church in San Jose, California; and at Sacramento’s Loaves and Fishes, which offers food and a host of services to the unhoused. He joined his brother, Fr. Chi Ngo, SJ, in working at the Jesuit Retreat Center in 2020.
Fr. Lépez pronounced final vows at St. Aloysius Parish in Toppenish, Washington, on March 15. Fr. Carroll received his final vows in place of Father General Sosa. Fr. Lépez currently serves as parochial vicar at St. Aloysius Parish and at St. Mary Parish in White Swan, Washington.
Fr. Lépez entered the Society in 2004 and was ordained in 2014. He has served as a pastoral minister at Dolores Mission in Los Angeles; a chaplain at Pierce County Hospitals in Tacoma, Washington; and an associate pastor at Holy Family Parish in Seattle and St. Francis Xavier Parish in Phoenix.
All Jesuits take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience after serving as novices for two years. Then, following many additional years of training and ministerial work, a Jesuit is invited to the final stage of formation, called “tertianship.” The Superior General of the Society of Jesus then decides whether to invite a Jesuit to pronounce final vows, which signifies his full incorporation into the Jesuits.