Laboring for the Lord
Father Matthew Sanka, SAC, is shown at St. Brendan Parish in Stephenville on May 9, 2023. Fr. Sanka is pastor of St. Brendan, St. Mary, Sacred Heart, and Our Lady of Guadalupe parishes. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)
HE IS: Father Matthew Sanka, SAC, pastor of St. Brendan Parish in Stephenville, St. Mary Parish in Dublin, Sacred Heart Parish in Comanche, and Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in DeLeon since 2015. He came to the Diocese of Fort Worth in 2013, and he lived in Weatherford and assisted the late Father Philip McNamara, SAC, with those parishes.
HUMBLE START: In a village in Tanzania, his parents had 12 children and farmed a small plot of land. He was an altar server at the local church, which had a Pallottine priest.
BUSY HANDS: His primary school was a four-mile walk, and when he returned home in the afternoon, he helped till, weed, and water crops or care for animals.
His secondary school was a boarding school, and the students grew their own food to reduce expenses. The school was run by Pallottine priests, and he began to feel a call to the priesthood.
SEMINARY STUDIES: He studied philosophy in Tanzania and completed his theology studies and pastoral year in Kenya. He was ordained June 1, 2002.
Since ordination, he has served in his native Tanzania for one year. He studied spiritual theology in Rome for two years, and he served in mission promotion at the provincial headquarters in Ireland for six years.
AS BIG AS TEXAS: When he approached Stephenville for the first time, he could see the tower of a large building from a few blocks away. He assumed the edifice was St. Brendan Church, because in his experience, the church was the main building in the town’s center.
He was surprised to learn the commanding structure was the courthouse, and the much smaller church was a half-mile away.
PARISH LIFE: “I remind parishioners priests come and go. We want to build structures that can outlast anybody. That’s the way the Catholic Church has always been, to have foundations of our faith that are not built on [an individual priest].”
BEST PART OF PRIESTHOOD: “A life of service. Being able to help someone and be there for them, their spiritual well-being.”
AND CHALLENGES: “Other experiences are not so easy for a priest. They can weigh on you in ways that can be tough. You meet people, all the time, in their most vulnerable state of mind,” and even participants in joyful sacramental celebrations like baptisms and matrimony are still emotionally vulnerable.
SACRAMENTAL LIFE: “All the sacraments of the Church are important aspects of our life. That’s where we nourish ourselves, we enter into the Passion, death of Jesus,” he said, adding the anointing of the sick and reconciliation are special opportunities “to be able to console them in an hour of need … to have someone who is overburdened and encourage them to embrace God’s mercy.”
EARLY BIRD: Fr. Sanka usually hits the gym at 5:30 and by 6:30 he’s in Adoration, doing spiritual reading, and preparing for 8 a.m. Mass.
FURTHER STUDIES: While in Ireland, Fr. Sanka did graduate work in psychotherapy and youth studies. He uses those tools in pastoral counseling.
GOOD NEIGHBOR: St. Brendan is across the street from Tarleton State University. “The young people are being trained intellectually, but there’s a moral, spiritual aspect that we provide here.”
PRIORITY ONE: “First and foremost, to know and to serve God, as the Catechism says, is the primary call. It’s the vocation for all of us. God wants us to engage [with Him], to make a difference in our lives.”