Featured Stories | October 08, 2025
“We are a bridge. We are the bridge between these young men called to live and serve with us and our spirituality as Priests of the Sacred Heart. We are the bridge that brings these two things together.”
-Fr. Rafael Querobin, SCJ
For Fr. Rafael Querobin, SCJ, religious life began in Brazil 25 years ago with cohorts of 20-40 young men preparing for their vocations as SCJs. Each stage of formation – candidacy, novitiate, philosophy and theology – had a distinct program in a different location.
In Canada, SCJ Br. Brian Tompkins’ formation experience was the complete opposite. Except for his novitiate year, which he did in the US Province, Br. Brian was a formation community of one learning about and preparing for religious life while living among SCJs who had been in vows for decades.
Totally different experiences, totally different paths, but directed toward the same goal: to become a perpetually professed member of the Priests of the Sacred Heart.
And now they draw on those diverse backgrounds to help others reach that same goal: to live and serve as Dehonians.
Starting with the new academic year, Fr. Rafael and Br. Brian are the directors of the US Province formation program based within Sacred Heart Monastery. In traditional religious terminology, they are “formators.”
“We are a bridge,” said Fr. Rafael, explaining what it means to be a formator. “We don’t actually ‘form’ a person to be a priest or religious. Instead, we work with men who are called by God to be a disciple of Christ, to be a religious. We are the bridge between these young men called to live and serve with us, and our spirituality as Priests of the Sacred Heart. We are the bridge that brings these two things together.”
This is Fr. Rafael’s second time as a formation director. In his home country of Brazil, he served as a formator for theologians and later, for philosophy students. He has done specialized studies in formation, and coursework in Victor Frankl’s logotherapy. However, he said that some of the best preparation he has had for his current assignment has been time: time as an SCJ.
“I was only 30 when I was first assigned to formation,” said Fr. Rafael. “Now, at 45, I have years of experience to draw on, to know what it means to live as a Priest of the Sacred Heart.”
“That’s what we both bring to formation,” said Br. Brian. “We bring our lived experience of being Dehonians which comes with much joy, but sometimes a bit of challenge. We talk about how to live that experience.”
Fr. Rafael spoke about the privileged nature of being in a formation community. “We live our SCJ religious life in a very intentional way,” he said. “That does not mean that other communities do not live intentionally, but the demands of outside ministries can sometimes find us putting our lives as religious on the side.” He speaks from experience, after having completed several years as pastor of a busy parish in Houston: Our Lady of Guadalupe.
“But here, in the formation community, focusing on our life as Dehonians IS our ministry,” said Fr. Rafael. “It doesn’t matter if you are a student or a director, we are all in formation every day. We are immersed in formation.”
Fr. Rafael and Br. Brian use a variety of resources –– including the general and provincial ratio formationis –– in developing the formation program. They rely on much of the work of previous formation directors, especially Fr. Joseph Thien Dinh, SCJ, who recently left formation to become province director of Justice, Peace and Reconciliation. But Fr. Rafael and Br. Brian also rely on other SCJs who are invited to visit with the community on a variety of topics. On October 1, Fr. Joseph Mukuna, SCJ, director of the Dehon Study Center, spoke to students about the founder, and resources available about him in the center. SCJs from Sacred Heart at Monastery Lake and other communities in the Milwaukee area are invited for community dinners during which they get to know the students and the students get to know them.
“Meals are an excellent opportunity to experience community, to just be together,” said Br. Brian.
Both formators agreed that the ideal would be to have the formation program, and each component of it, in a separate location, much as Fr. Rafael experienced during his own initial years of formation. But location within the same building that houses Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology also has advantages.
“It is good for our students to be a part of this ministry,” said Fr. Rafael. “This isn’t just a seminary, this is our Dehonian apostolate. It is a good location for our students to regularly interact with other SCJs, not just at SHSST, but in the Milwaukee area overall and with members of the community traveling through Hales Corners.
“And the students have peer support in being with a wide variety of seminarians.”
“These are good men,” concluded Br. Brian about the SCJ students. “We respect each other, we appreciate each other’s cultures and the experience that we each have in our encounter of God. I think that these young men will be wonderful members of the community as they mature with us; they offer a positive future. I am happy to be here.”
