Some 30 years ago, Deacon Emmanuel Carreño García’s father traveled all around the United States looking for the perfect place to bring his family.
He chose the Shenandoah Valley for its peaceful way of life, beautiful countryside and stable work he found in the chicken-processing industry. His wife and children joined him from Mexico, and the family all started attending Spanish Masses at St. John Bosco Church in Woodstock. The parish fostered his faith as a child and ultimately helped him discern a calling to the diocesan priesthood. Now, he’ll be the first Arlington diocese priest from the parish in recent memory. “The Lord sparked that desire in me to want to serve,” said Deacon Carreño.
Emmanuel Carreño García was born Feb. 14, 1989, in León, Guanajuato, Mexico, to Maria and Encarnación. He’s the middle child of three boys with an older brother, Horacio, and a younger brother, Javier. He and his family moved to Mount Jackson, Va., when he was 3 years old. He graduated from Central High School in 2007 and the University of Mary Washington in 2011 with a degree in Spanish literature. Getting involved with the Catholic Campus Ministry deepened his relationship with God. “That was where the faith really started taking root,” he said.
After college, he worked with AmeriCorps serving a Guatemalan community in Florida, as a FOCUS missionary, and for the Richmond diocese, all while discerning a vocation. He entered the seminary for the Arlington diocese in 2018, then left after two years to discern monastic life. A difficult visit to his home parish helped him see that serving as a diocesan priest was his calling. “My pastor had died, my deacon had died, and the sisters that were at the parish had been recalled back to their motherhouse,” he said. “The Lord was using that to open my heart more to wanting to serve parishes.”
After reapplying to seminary, he continued his studies at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Lower Gwynedd, Pa. After he’s ordained to the priesthood, he’s looking forward to hearing confessions. “I’m excited to be a vessel of his mercy; I’m praying I can do that faithfully, in all the different ways,” said Deacon Carreño. He’s also excited to visit his extended family, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City and the parish where he was baptized. “I’m going to go to Mexico and be able to celebrate Mass in these different places — that’s kind of unreal to me,” he said.
As he offers the sacrifice of the Mass, he will use the chalice of his late pastor and mentor, Father Michael J. Dobbins. “It means a lot to the parish community — it’s literally taking the chalice of a priest who served before me,” he said. “I hope I can serve as well as him.”
After ordination, Deacon Carreño will be parochial vicar at St. John the Apostle Church in Leesburg.
Maraist is a freelancer from Reston.
