Diocese welcomes new priest from India

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Father Southan Star Alban

SALT LAKE CITY — Father Southan Star Alban, the newest member of the presbyterate in the Diocese of Salt Lake City, has found it a wonderful experience being outside his home country of India for the first time, he said.

“I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet some of the people in Salt Lake City, and serving here at the diocese is just wonderful,” he said. “In the beginning I was wondering, ‘How is this going to be?’ I had no idea, but now I am very confident; people are so good here.”

Since his arrival two weeks ago, Fr. Alban has been assigned to the Cathedral of Madeleine while he completes the paperwork and other processes needed to work in the United States.

The cathedral is “one holy place where I have encountered God’s presence. … Being in silence there is wonderful, and just to listen to him has been wonderful, too,” he said, adding that his message to the people of God in Utah is that “wherever you are, whatever you do, be sure God is with you and he is going to find ways to be with you.”

His assignment to Utah become a reality when his bishop, the Most Rev.  Nazarene Soosai of the Diocese of Kottar, Tamil Nadu, India, was asked if he would be willing to send some of his priests to the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

“My bishop was willing to send me here, and I was very happy because I have told him that I was always going to be very obedient, so he sent me and now I am here,” Fr. Alban said.

Originally from Midalam, Tamil Nadu, India, Fr. Alban said that his priesthood calling was not a smooth path.

“It was like a true struggle because I actually wanted to grow up to become a sailor in the sea,” he said, adding that there were lots of issues in his family, as well as lots of misunderstanding.

Part of the process was him asking himself, “Am I going to be part of these so many issues, or am I going to be a man where I can help someone?’’ he said, and decided he wanted  to see God and help people live their lives happily as Christians, calling that the star of his discerning to the priesthood life.

“I thought I should be a priest so I can help others and be happy, and God will be happy since others will be happy, too,” Fr. Alban said.

He was ordained a priest on May 3, 2015 at Saint Francis Xavier’s Cathedral in Kottar, Nagercoil, for the Diocese of Kottar.

Since his ordination, Father Alban has been the vice rector of two minor seminaries, one in the Diocese of Kottar and the other in the Diocese of Salem. He has also served as a vice rector, as a teacher of music and English at a Benedictine monastery, a parochial vicar at a co-cathedral in the Diocese of Salem, and a coordinator of counselling ministry in the Diocese of Kottar.

During his almost 10 years of priesthood, every day has been a new experience, he said.

“I said ‘yes’ during to my ordination to the Lord, and it’s one thing to say yes, but every moment I need to say yes to God, so I need to be constantly available to say yes,” he said. “God never calls a qualified person, but he qualifies those who are called.”

With God’s guidance in his life, no matter the place, situations or challenges, Fr. Alban is confident that he will always do what he is supposed to do, he said. “He is there to guide me, to shape me, and that’s enough for me. … If I am open to God, he is going to let me do what I am supposed to do.”

Fr. Alban speaks Hindi, English and is working to tune up his Spanish.

 “There are so many people around me here that are helping me with the Spanish,” he said.

Fr. Alban will minister at the Cathedral of Madeleine until he is given another assignment by Bishop Oscar A. Solis.