MISSION IMPACT
At St. Thomas Aquinas, we cultivate servant hearts by fostering a community that emphasizes compassion, empathy, and service to others. Our programs encourage students to engage in various mission projects, both locally and nationally, allowing them to witness and respond to the needs of those less fortunate. Through hands-on experiences, students learn the importance of stewardship and the impact of their efforts. This commitment to missionary work not only enhances their personal growth but also strengthens our collective mission to promote dignity and respect for all individuals, embodying the essence of service that lies at the heart of our Christian values.
MISSIONARIES
MEET CLAIRE BROWN | NET
COMING SOON
MEET ELIJAH BROWN | NET
COMING SOON
MEET LETZA GARIBO | NET
COMING SOON
MEET MERISSA HESS | NET
COMING SOON
MEET LUKE GROVE | DAMASCUS
My name is Luke Grove. I attended Life Teen here at AQUINAS for 3 years, and I’m entering the mission field with Damascus to bring the same love for Jesus I experienced here to a whole new field. Damascus is a Catholic missionary organization that forms young people to live out their faith through evangelization and service. I’ll be serving there for two years, leading retreats for middle school and high school students and helping them encounter Christ. My role will also involve community life, prayer, and personal formation as a missionary.
All of the CORE members at LIFE TEEN helped me with my confidence toward mission, and I am so grateful for them and all they did for me.
Please consider supporting my mission so I am able to help teens and youth experience Jesus!
MEET DAVID DREJZA | ANNUNCIATION HEIGHTS
My name is David Drejza. I am a sophomore attending Franciscan University. I have been a part of Aquinas since I was born 19 years ago and I also attended STA elementary school. I graduated from JP2 in 2024 and I’m now studying finance at Franciscan. This summer, I am working as a missionary at Annunciation Heights Summer Camp in Estes Park, CO. Aquinas helped me say yes to this call by training me to be a leader and creating a foundation in my faith that’s unwavering.
Life teen specifically is how my faith truly became my own and I am forever grateful for that. At Annunciation Heights, we serve kids and families that come to the camp. We lead them in activities, praise and worship, and adoration, teaching them how to encounter and converse with our Lord.
SEMINARIANS
JULIAN MENA | DIOCESE OF PHOENIX
I am a cradle Catholic, born into an active-duty military family. My dad was an officer in the Air Force, and due to the nature of his job, my family moved every two years up until I turned 15 years old. All that moving meant I was exposed to many different cultures and people. While everything about my life changed, the two things that remained consistent were my school, since my mom homeschooled me and my younger brother, and my Faith. While each military parish looked and operated differently, the Mass remained the same, which was of comfort to me and my family. We always took our Faith seriously, yet for many years we remained uneducated on various topics relevant to being a faithful member of the Church. Although I believed in and loved God and His Church, in many ways I kept the Faith because “mom and dad said I need to”. It wasn’t until my family moved to Arizona in 2015 that I became part of a strong, permanent Catholic community at St. Thomas Aquinas, and my faith began to truly blossom.
My whole life I’ve felt a draw towards the priesthood, and seminary remained a burning question in my mind even while I was dating in high school. It wasn’t until my freshman year of college that I began to seriously discern if seminary and priesthood were possibilities that could lie in my future. I broke up with the girl I had been dating for almost three years at that point and began regularly meeting with Fr. Fernando Camou and Fr. Paul Sullivan to discuss a plan to enter seminary. I tried applying to Nazareth House back in 2018, but divine providence deemed that I needed to wait until I finished my degree. Two years later when the pandemic started, I faced many emotional challenges and almost gave up on my pursuit of a college degree and seminary. However, by the grace of God, while I wasn’t perfect and stumbled many times, I prevailed. I applied to seminary and graduated with a degree in Astrophysics from ASU in May of 2022.
Since graduation, I have been accepted to Nazareth House. I do not know for sure where this road will lead. However, I look forward to how God and the seminary life will form me into the man I am meant to become.
MEET ALEX VINCIGUERRA | DIOCESE OF PHOENIX
I was raised nominally Catholic with almost no knowledge of the faith and only occasional Easter and Christmas Mass attendance. Through conversation with a truth-seeking friend in the summer after my high school graduation I discovered the incredible intellectual depth and consistency of the Church. From that time and moving into college I frequently researched Catholic history, tradition, doctrine, and whatever else I could think of. Due to my newfound belief I also began the necessary practices of the faith and started attending Mass every Sunday. A short while later I began to think during Mass that priesthood was something I should pursue, but I dismissed these thoughts as either random workings of my brain or manifestations of my own pride. This notion of moving towards the priesthood regularly appeared in my head and came up in daily Masses and Adoration as I began attending those as well, but I continued to dismiss it for the next few years. Though I did pray for guidance in the matter I was determined not to really consider it unless a dramatic sign appeared, which I neither expected nor received.
After graduating from college I worked a couple of jobs for a year, but felt significantly that my life was not headed in the right direction. I quit the second job and began to attempt a serious evaluation of what my goals were and what God’s goals for me might be. In the fall of 2021 I began volunteering with my brother in multiple ministries at the local parish. A couple months later I finally gave in to the thoughts that I had been having since first attending weekly Masses and I asked the parish priests how I might begin the process of applying for seminary. Throughout the application process, although not without some anxieties here and there, I have experienced a reassuring peace with where my life has been pointing. It seems to me that this is the closest I have yet come to aligning my will with the Lord’s. I trust Him to ensure this new time in my life only serves to conform me even more.
MEET ISAAK GODINA | DIOCESE OF PHOENIX
COMING SOON
BR. ANDREW OLSON | Oblates of the Virgin Mary
Br. Andrew comes from Glendale, AZ. He became Catholic during his freshman year of college at Arizona State University, where he studied Biochemistry. Shortly after his Confirmation, he felt the Lord calling him to discern the priesthood and eventually spent five years studying in Denver, CO for the Diocese of Phoenix. During this time, he found a home at St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Avondale, AZ. He later decided to step away from diocesan formation and take some time to discern where God may be calling him. This led him to the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, whom he had met during his time in Denver.
Br. Andrew began his postulancy with the Oblates in August of 2022, entered the novitiate in July of 2023, and made his first profession of vows in August of 2024. He is in his fourth year of theology studies.