Vivian
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In her own words
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My name is Vivian Denise Valencia. I was born in California and mostly raised in the suburban communities of Turlock, Merced, and Atwater. Currently, as of July 2025, I now live in Modesto, California.
I was raised culturally Catholic with Mexican and Texan roots. There were rosaries hanging around, images of la Virgen Maria, and Mass on (most) Sundays and religious holidays. We always left home with a “Que Dios te bendiga" (“May God bless you"). As children, my sisters and I learned our prayers and recited them when we spent the night with Grandma. My twin sister and I stumbled into a youth group as teenagers. (I, admittedly, was most motivated to join after learning it was a requirement to have a quinceañera with my cousin and twin sister.) After about a year of attendance, we made many good friends, experienced retreats, were confirmed, and had our quinceañera. My twin sister and I stayed – our pull got deeper. After being offered invitations, we said yes to serving in the ministries offered to teenagers. We taught Catechism classes; I became a lector; my sister started singing in the band. It became routine, then expected of us after 4 years or so. I was “supposed” to stay home and study locally, but God had different plans. When I was trying to decide what to do after high school, I firmly decided I wanted to go to a Catholic university. It was going to be pricey and away from home, but I knew it would be worth it. (I didn’t then know just how valuable it would be.) God settled on Loyola Marymount University being the place for me – 6 hours from home in Los Angeles. Here, the roots of my faith life were challenged, nourished, and flourished, preparing me for life beyond LMU. Although I aspired to pursue Physics, the Jesuits required we study Theology classes. It hooked me. At the same time, I was---appropriately---open to exploring my own identity. One of the first things I questioned was ministry. When invited to be a lector, I hesitated (later participated); when invited to visit juvenile halls, I enthusiastically said yes (but wasn’t quite old enough at the time of the first invitation). In true Jesuit fashion, I was encouraged to believe I can find God in all things. I found God in the “darkest” of places - prisons and juvenile halls. As soon as I turned 21 (the age requirement), I started to volunteer in the juvenile halls of Los Angeles County with the Catholic Chaplain programs. Alongside my moral theology and political science studies, I experienced God while visiting the incarcerated children. Most profoundly, I heard confessions. I was humbled. This is where my call to the priesthood began. Who was I that the person before me, sometimes a minor being charged as an adult, would trust me to accompany them through the most difficult time of their lives? While ministering in juvenile halls, I was simultaneously studying Catholic Social Teaching, Jesus’ washing of our feet, and The Advocate Holy Spirit’s invitation to join God’s healing of our messy world. For many reasons, I was attracted to spaces of reconciliation, and it seemed to consume me in ineffable ways that I couldn’t help but trust. Closer to graduation, my dad asked me, “What is your plan?” I told him I wanted to work in prisons and juvenile halls (the Jesuits invited me into their restorative justice ministry after graduation). He commented, “What? I spent my whole life trying to keep you out of prison, and now you want to go to prison?” I decided I would take the year to discern law school. Secretly, because I would not dare admit to anyone else that I felt I had a priestly vocation, I rationalized that I wanted to receive other’s confessions and accompany them through reconciliation. Who could do that in a legally-acknowledged and protected way? Priests and lawyers; and by process of elimination, I decided on the lawyer thing. The calling was confirmed continually. I was in love - fully alive - when I would visit someone that was incarcerated, and together we learned more of how big God’s love and mercy are in our world. I went to law school. I discerned more there, but didn’t dare speak of my truest motivation to pursue a career in public defender work: to be in the confessional with the penitent and our most gracious God. Now, I have a beautiful small group community, spiritual directors and mentors, and friends that have helped affirm my vocation. Their presence in my life generates in me more courage to share my story and vocation. To other women, I don’t have much “advice” but the following words of encouragement:
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