Parochial Vicar Erick

“Promise me you’ll take care of Mom and Dad; I don’t think I’m getting out of here alive. I love you.” These words were shouted by the young parochial vicar Erick into his phone amid deafening noise on July 13, 2018, after his brother had picked up the receiver. Along with 100 students, a priest, and two journalists, Erick lay on the floor of his parish church in Managua. For 15 hours. The hail of bullets fired at the church from outside by police officers did not let up. Two students were hit and died; across the country, 400 people had fallen victim to this state crackdown.

What had happened?

The Nicaraguan people, including the students, had risen up against the regime’s oppression. The police were given orders to shoot on sight, whereupon the churches of the country opened their doors to offer protection to those being persecuted.

Erick was born in September 1979 as the third of four sons into a Catholic family and grew up during the communist years. The persecution of Christians grew ever more oppressive. Priests were subjected to great psychological pressure. The style of government in this predominantly Catholic country took on increasingly dictatorial traits.

The greatest problem facing his homeland is the crushing poverty under which the people suffer.

Erick already felt a calling at the age of six, but he was not yet able to understand this call. He was afraid it was merely wishful thinking. So he decided to pursue a course of training. After completing his studies in systems technology, he told himself: If I get a job, then I am not meant to become a priest.

He interpreted the job offer as God’s answer. For almost five years he worked as an IT systems technician. Humanly speaking, he had everything: money, a career, his first girlfriend. Yet the emptiness and restlessness he felt within himself kept growing. In 2008, after a year of discernment, he knew: I want to leave everything behind and become a priest. Joyfully and gratefully he entered the seminary. Here he quickly became aware: “God has captured me with the lasso of His love, and I am merely giving back something of what I have received from God.”

He is troubled by the rise of sects in his country, by moral decline, and by the ignorance of many in matters of faith. Moral theology and family pastoral care are therefore very close to his heart. His bishop sent him to the Pontifical University of Santa Croce. After Erick’s return, the bishop intends to employ him as a formator in the seminary and for family catechesis.

Nicaragua—indeed the whole world—needs priests like Erick. That is why we ask you most warmly: support seminarians like him with your prayers, and if at all possible, with your generous donation!

Thank you for your solidarity!

Many thanks for your generous support of priests like Erick!