Carlos Gomez

Press Room for the Diocese of Phoenix

Carlos Gomez

As a doctor, Carlos Gomez could treat a person’s physical ailments, but he always felt he could do more.

“When I was working in the hospital, my relationship with the patients made more sense when I started helping them out in their personal or spiritual needs than in their medical ones,” he said.

On June 7, Gomez begins that mission to tend to the spiritual needs of his flock when he will be ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Phoenix. He grew up in the northern Mexican state of Sonora, where he was raised a devout Catholic, the second of four sons. More than five years ago, he joined St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana.

At the age of 34, Gomez enters the priesthood already having reached a professional milestone, becoming a medical doctor, which for many signals the end of the journey. For Gomez it turned out to be just the beginning.

“(Patients) would say to me, ‘Doctor, every time I talk to you I feel much better. I feel physically and emotionally better,’” he said. “So I asked myself, ‘What is going on, what does this mean?’ When I finished my hospital internship, I went to confession — an ordinary day — and I talked to a priest I had never met before and I have never seen since. When he finished the prayer of absolution, he said to me, ‘You don’t know me, Carlos, and I don’t know you outside of this moment, but I feel and I sense and I believe that you need to consecrate your life to God.

“That became the moment when I said, ‘OK,’” Gomez said. “I said I wanted to give all the blessings He had given to me to others.”
In the secular world, medicine is the one of the most revered professions. But Gomez shows little interest in returning to that part of his life, said Fr. Don Kline, vocation director for the diocese.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out in priesthood because many times he was the class seminary physician,” Fr. Kline said. “Guys would have a cold and would call upon him. He kind of had to wear two hats and I know he doesn’t want to. He wants to be known as a priest and he definitely wants to do that.”

Still, Paul Sullivan, a first-year seminarian from Phoenix at St. Meinrad, believes that the part of Gomez that first called him to help ease the physical pains of his fellow man has proven to be the conduit through which he has helped ease the fears and anxieties of those around him.

“I would say that whatever brought him to the giving as a doctor, probably brought him here as well. It’s a genuine call if you leave such a worldly and prestigious career,” Sullivan said. “People I know have said he’s going to be a good priest, even just after meeting him. It’s a gift he has, more than I’ve seen in any other seminarian, just this great friendly attitude. His parishioners are going to love him.”

Fr. Kline said Gomez’s desire to care for the spiritual and emotional needs of people translated into an ability to smooth over tensions and fears among new seminarians.

“He would take them under his wing and have a genuine concern for them,” Fr. Kline said. “Maybe it was because of some of his doctor skills, but he would just sort of reach out and help guys through the tough times. He’s a leader in that sense.”

He may be a leader, but Gomez still looks humbly on the gifts given to him and the path he has chosen.

“It’s many blessings. It’s happiness. It’s a hard time, yes. But it’s beautiful. It’s for God. It’s for something greater,” he said.

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