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Name: Roberto Iraheta
Date of birth: January 5, 1987
Hobbies and interest: playing soccer and reading
Favorite saints: St. Faustina and St. Josemaria Escriba de Balaguer
I was thirteen years old when I felt the calling of God in my life. My family and I used to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in the cathedral of my city. I remember that one time I was alone during exposition of the Blessed Sacrament when I felt the calling of God in my life. Along with this experience there were two major influences regarding my decision to enter the seminary, they were my pastor and my mother. However the greatest motivator was God’s call and my wanting to answer him and serve as a good priest.
When I was sixteen years old, I spoke with my bishop in El Salvador about the calling of God to the priesthood. Two days after I talked with my bishop, I spoke with the President-Rector of the minor seminary John Paul II in my diocese. In 2003 I started my high school in the minor seminary and after two years, when I was eighteen years old, I started my philosophical studies at Saint James the Apostle Seminary in January of 2005.
The year at Saint James the Apostle seminary was like a retreat year. During this year concentration was put on the spiritual life with spiritual readings and the rosary taking precedence. The academic area was also important because we had to get a good grades in all the subjects. At the seminary social skills were also important because it was part of our daily life.
I was nineteen years old when I started my studies at Blessed John XXIII Seminary in January of 2006. I studied two years of philosophy. During the second year Father Larry D’Anjou came to the Zacatecoluca diocese in El Salvador. Father Larry spoke to me about the opportunity of studying in Diocese of Oakland in the United Sated and after the recommendation of my bishop I came to study in this country. I arrived in the diocese on January 5th, 2008. I am studying English and I hope to serve our Lord Jesus and the people of God in the United States.