New priest in Salt Lake diocese: Fr. Noel Ancheta

Friday, Aug. 28, 2020

SALT LAKE CITY — Father Noel Ancheta recently became the new chaplain at the University Hospital, Huntsman Cancer Institute and Primary Children’s Hospital. He will reside at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Salt Lake City. 

Fr. Ancheta, who was born and raised in the Philippines, began his journey to the priesthood when he was very young.

“I was 3 years old when I was taken in by my paternal grandparents. My grandfather loved to tell stories during mealtime,” he said. Those stories stuck in his mind.

He grew up during a war, and the only people who weren’t being killed were the priests.

“As an 8-year old kid, I believed everything that [my grandfather] said, so I promised that when I grew older I would become a priest, so that I wouldn’t be killed if there were a war,” Fr. Ancheta said.

Time passed, and the war ended, but the thought of becoming a priest was always present in his mind, and that became a desire that led him into the seminary.

“Another factor which contributed a lot to my desire to become a priest is the religiosity of my family from my father’s side,” he said. “I have an aunt who has been blind since she was 9 years old, who would wake up every day at 4 a.m. to pray the rosary, and she would include all her siblings, nieces and nephews.” 

Prayer is an important element that nourishes vocations to religious life, he said.

He was ordained in his hometown parish in the Philippines on Sept. 2, 1988, the only priest who was ordained from his seminary at the time, because “many entered the seminary from my town, but they did not persevere,” he said.

When Fr. Ancheta was ordained, excitement and happiness filled his whole being, he said. In the years following, he was assigned as pastor to three different parishes in the Philippines. 

“The fourth assignment was in the seminary as a rector. I was hesitant, for it is a very difficult job,” he said. “The majority of our college seminarians came from broken families, so it is very difficult to form them, considering their psychological and emotional background. Thanks be to God, I survived the five-year stint at the seminary.”

Then he was invited to come to the United States to minister in the Diocese of Phoenix. However, because of COVID-19, the parish in Arizona where he was assigned couldn’t support him, so he was advised to transfer.

Fr. Ancheta wrote a letter to the Most Rev. Oscar A. Solis, Bishop of Salt Lake City, and was welcomed by the bishop as well as the vicar general and vicar for priests.

“I was so overwhelmed by this generous gesture,” said Fr. Ancheta, adding that this past year has been one of the most challenging years in his priesthood life, but also has been a reminder of God’s plan.

“As a chaplain, I believe that it is my mission to bring Christ and his love to the patients and their families, courtesy to the hospital staff, and to my co-chaplains the spirit of good collaboration, which is manifested in having a good relationship with them, instilling in one’s consciousness that we are all workers in the vineyard of the Lord and Christ is our master,” he said.

At Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, “I promise to be a good companion, with the eagerness to listen and heed the command of the pastor, Fr. John Schwall, who is so kind, understanding and wonderful,” Fr. Ancheta said.

He wants the People of God in the Diocese of Salt Lake City to know that he has an understanding and open heart, and he is ready to serve and help everyone, he said.

“I always remind myself that I am not doing my mission but the mission of Christ entrusted to me,” he said. “I need your prayers to fulfill this task. Thank you and God bless!”