Dominican Brother Gabriel Mosher's conversion was unexpected

Intermountain Catholic

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Dominican Brother Gabriel Mosher (far right) wields the incense censure during the Saint Catherine of Siena/Newman Center's annual Mass on the Grass on Aug. 28.

SALT LAKE CITY — Dominican Brother Gabriel Thomas Mosher arrived in Utah two months ago from Saint Albert the Great Priory in Oakland, Calif. He is on a one-year assignment at Saint Catherine of Siena Parish/Newman Center.

Brother Gabriel grew up in Albuquerque, N.M., where he attended public schools. He went to Texas A&M in College Station, Texas on a Marine Corps scholarship to become an officer. But after a series of events, he withdrew from the program.

"I had only been baptized as a child," Brother Gabriel said. "I was home, and decided to complete the sacraments of initiation. While I was in the RCIA program I was approached by a priest to go to a vocational discernment retreat for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe."

While there, the archbishop asked Brother Gabriel if he would become a seminarian, and he agreed. "There had never been a thought or a consideration of that before. I was a Catholic, but not a practicing Catholic. I didn’t grow up going to Mass, only when I was a young child. My family is mostly nominal in the faith. My conversion hit me like a ton of bricks."

Brother Gabriel unexpectedly fell in love with the Lord. "It was a gift," he said. "God allowed the scales to drop from my eyes. I no longer identified my relationship with Jesus and my faith as two separate things. I had a faith in the Lord. It was impossible for me to do something else."

He completed the sacraments of initiation, then entered the seminary, receiving his undergraduate degree in philosophy from Holy Apostles Seminary in Connecticut. He began theological studies at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, but withdrew after a year to return home. "I had a serious relationship with a woman who was very important to me, but I also couldn’t get rid of the nagging thought of entering the priesthood," Brother Gabriel said.

In the end, although he believed he could be happy as a husband and father, he discerned the gifts and skills God has given him to serve as a priest.

"I had a great Dominican spiritual director and the charism of the Dominicans seemed to fit, so I petitioned the order for admittance and was accepted," he said. "I couldn’t live a single life alone; I need community."

Brother Gabriel is in his fourth year of study with the Dominicans and expects to be ordained as a priest in 2015. "I was ready to take solemn vows the moment I left the novitiate," he said. "I love the brothers, I love the charism; I can’t imagine doing anything else. It’s a struggle, but it’s a struggle worth having."

Brother Gabriel said St. Catherine Parish has a sense of community and justice and he is trying to build its intellectual and devotional life with both the permanent community and with the students. "Those are the two areas of Catholic formation where my experience and knowledge fit in," he said.

He handles all the baptismal preparation for parents and godparents, the RCIA program and the college Knights of Columbus Council. Once school began, he started a rosary group on campus. He also has planned two study groups that will start this month. The permanent parish will read and discuss all the documents on the Second Vatican Council and the students will study Pope John Paul II’s "Theology of the Body."

Brother Gabriel has also started First Friday devotions during holy hours, some planned spiritual conferences and he will work with the students on retreats.