Hello everyone!

     Thank you all so much for welcoming me to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish! My name is Sean Hoey and I am a 28-year-old seminarian studying at Immaculate Conception Seminary for the Diocese of Metuchen. I would just like to briefly introduce myself and share some of my journey up to now. I am a lifelong Catholic, raised in Lopatcong, NJ with a very loving mother and father, both of whom are also lifelong Catholics. I am the oldest among my siblings, which includes my younger sister and my even younger brother. I grew up receiving my sacraments and going to Mass at St. Mary Roman Catholic Church in Alpha, NJ. I graduated from Phillipsburg High School in 2016, having received a varsity letter in soccer and participated in the school’s marching band, in which I played the alto saxophone. I was 14 years old when I first heard the call to discern priesthood. I remember that at my Confirmation my pastor informed us that there is a great need in the world for priests, whose vocations have been greatly dwindling here in the U.S., and had encouraged all boys receiving Confirmation that day to begin discerning what kind of life God is inviting us to seek. At that moment a thought had entered my head: “What if I became a priest?” This thought, which I believe had come from God, has been present in my mind ever since that day.

    In my spare time I have a variety of interests and hobbies that I like to do both individually and among friends . One particular hobby I enjoy on my own is reading. I enjoy reading the works of J.R.R.Tolkien, other fantasy novels, historical fiction, and non-fiction history about Europe and Colonial America. Another particular hobby I enjoy is hiking, whether alone or with friends. I am enthralled by the prospect of exploration and having time to reflect on my own thoughts and the beauty of God’s creation around me. While hiking I also sometimes like to go bird watching or take out my sketchbook and pencils to practice landscape drawing.

    One of my favorite activities to do with friends is to watch plays and musicals with them. Among my personal favorites are Les Miserables, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Music Man. I initially studied historic preservation and archaeology for three years at Salve Regina University in Newport, RI., with a minor in religious studies from 2016-2019. While there, I became actively involved in the campus ministry and have developed many strong and lasting friendships with people who also professed the Catholic faith. I had also found a love for serving the local community through various service opportunities. After three years of study I transferred out of Salve Regina University and into Warren County Community College here in New Jersey, where I earned an Associate’s degree in Liberal Arts. From there, I transferred to the Franciscan University of Steubenville to study Theology through their online courses program. After two years, I graduated from the Franciscan University of Steubenville in December 2022 with a B.A. in Theology. After graduation I then taught Theology for two years at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Edison, NJ, teaching freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. I studied and lived my propaedeutic year in the Mater Redemptoris House of Formation in La Crosse, WI. Afterwards, I began my first year of study at Immaculate Conception Seminary and was introduced to my first pastoral assignment at the Church of St. James in Basking Ridge, NJ. Having finished my first year, I look forward to my next several years of study and priestly formation, as well as serving this beautiful parish here in Whitehouse Station!

Many thanks to you all and God bless you!

Sean Hoey

We are pleased to welcome to Our Lady of Lourdes, priest in residence, Rev. Larrydom JR. K. Magdasoc.

Father Larry, first thought it would be good for him to pursue the “amazing calling” of the priesthood when he was in high school in his native Philippines, but his parents wanted him to wait to make such a big decision until after college. So he earned a bachelor’s degree in information technology from De La Salle Lipa (University) in Lipa City, Philippines, in 2012, then worked as a web developer at a television network in Manila for a few months. But he was unhappy and knew that was not what he wanted to do with his life. “I came back to my first calling, to the priesthood,” he said. “God was really calling me to this life.”       

The journey to ordination took him first to St. Francis de Sales Major Seminary in Lipa City, Philippines, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in classical philosophy in 2018. He was invited to participate in a monastic discernment program with the Trappists in Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, where he met a priest of the Diocese or Metuchen.       

When he discerned that monastic life was not for him, the priest suggested he consider the New Jersey diocese. Knowing that many priests from the Philippines come to the United States where vocations are not as plentiful, the seminarian applied and was accepted for service here. He earned a Master of Divinity degree in pastoral ministry from Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University in South Orange. As a transitional deacon, he served at St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Skillman, where he preached, trained altar servers and assisted with parish activities.

 While in seminary, he found “brotherhood and camaraderie” with the four men who were ordained with him, of different backgrounds and ethnicities. “We will be missionary priests in that we were not born in this country, but we are here to help and to be part of the mission of priests here,” Father Larry said. “We need more priests and servants in the vineyard of God,” he said. Father Larry enjoys traveling, taking photos, visiting churches and other religious sites and spending quite time with the Lord and in meditation and silence. “I am really, really thankful for what the diocese has given me and what God has done for me.”