He’s a third degree black belt and TaeKwon Do national champion, a graduate of one of the oldest universities in Europe, a Lego master, expert in Psalm 119, and a Catholic priest! Meet Fr. Paul-Michael Piega, our friend and foreword writer for the 2021-2022 edition of the Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal! (Flip back to page 6 in the current journal for his insightful reflection!)
On this day 4 years ago, Fr. Paul-Michael Piega was ordained as a priest—praise God! I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down and chat with Fr. Piega recently. We had so much to talk about we decided to share his interview as a 3 part series, and today we’ll be sharing his vocation story in honor of his ordination anniversary! Stay tuned in the coming weeks for his thoughts on visiting Rome, having a childlike faith, learning how to pray, and much more. Let’s dive in!
Kassie and Fr. Piega with the 2021-2022 ESS Mass journals - all smiles in the Texas sun!
Part I: Feed My Sheep
Kassie: Welcome! Christie and I are so excited to have a fellow Texan as our foreword writer for this year. We would love if you would introduce yourself!
Fr. Piega: Hello everyone! I'm Fr. Paul-Michael Piega, a pastor at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Hutto, Texas, a growing suburb in Northeast Austin. I was born in Queens, New York, in Astoria and we lived there until I was eight years old, when my parents discerned that New York wasn't the right place for them to raise a family. We moved to Dallas where I grew up, along with my younger sister Kimee.
Kassie: And you’ve got a great story of how the Holy Spirit led your family, your mom in particular, to move to Texas—can you share that?
Fr. Piega: This is a beautiful story. God speaks to my mom through flowers, and what I mean by that is my mom was discerning where they should raise our family. My family is huge and spread in all parts of the country, so she visited various family members at different locations. One of her rules is we should always visit the church to give thanks to God for safe travels. Upon visiting all these churches, the flowers were always red—red roses, red carnations, red flowers—always red. In prayer, the Holy Spirit nudged my mom to try Texas, which was interesting because we didn’t have any family members there, but she did have a job interview in Dallas. She went to the interview and when she visited the church in Dallas it was full of white flowers. After praying in the chapel she felt an immense sense of peace and knew that we’d live our lives in Texas—that’s where we were supposed to be. So I guess you can say we got to Texas as quickly as we could!
Fr. Paul-Michael and his parents after his baptism!
Kassie: The Holy Spirit guided y’all here! So then you went to Texas A&M for college—you were pre-med at first?
Fr. Piega: Yes. My mom is a nurse and my dad, may he rest in peace, worked in the ER and the OR as a tech. My parents are Filipino, and a lot of us Filipinos are in the medical field—we’re very hospitable! Based on these experiences, I thought my destiny was to become a doctor, so I started as a biology major. I soon realized I didn’t love science—I liked it, but didn’t love it. I tried nutritional science—I like nutrition and eating of course!—but that was still not right. I ended up graduating with a degree in psychology, which is great because as a priest I need to help counsel and bring a Catholic view to a field that is often secular.
Fr. Paul-Michael and his family after an Aggie Awakening retreat—back when he was still a student Texas A&M!
Kassie: It was around this time that you started discerning the priesthood—can you share that story?
Fr. Piega: Yes, I was in my sophomore year at Texas A&M on a 5 day mini Ignatian silent retreat. On the final day, after receiving our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, I hear a voice in my prayer saying, “Will you tend to my sheep? Will you feed my sheep? And will you lead my sheep?” It was a silent retreat so I’m looking to my left and my right and no one’s talking to me—what is going on? And so here I am, I just received Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, and realized—it's you Lord. But what do these words mean? And I took those words and just started praying.
That moment made me think—what am I doing with my life? The silent retreat helped me to understand the deeper questions of who am I, and what am I called to do and to be. It was that moment when I started to begin the discernment to the priesthood.