60 Years a Jesuit in 2024
Pastoral Ministry in the Diocese of El Paso, Director of Fr. Rahm Council – El Paso, Texas
Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, Fr. Samuel Rosales, SJ, has dedicated much of his six decades of Jesuit ministry to the pastoral care of Hispanic Catholics in Texas.
Father Rosales entered the former New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus at St. Charles College in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, after graduating from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1964. He completed his studies at Saint Louis University and Woodstock College in New York, where he earned master’s degrees in urban affairs and sacred theology and a Master of Divinity. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1973 at Sacred Heart Church in El Paso.
After serving in his first pastoral assignment at St. Joseph Church in Houston, from 1974 to 1980, Fr. Rosales returned to his hometown to serve as assistant director of Our Lady’s Youth Center at Sacred Heart Parish. There, he supported the outreach program for at-risk, low-income young people until 1990.
After obtaining a master’s in pastoral studies from Loyola University of Chicago, Fr. Rosales returned to ministry. First, he served for eight months as a spiritual director at the Jesuit Spirituality Center in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. In 1992, he was assigned as associate pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish and Shrine in San Antonio, Texas, where he served until 2006. He ministered to the diverse and vibrant Hispanic community and participated in the activities of the Shrine, which is a national center of devotion to the patroness of the Americas. He also ministered in Mobile, Alabama, where he assisted in Hispanic ministry in the Archdiocese of Mobile.
In 2006, he returned to El Paso, where he worked in pastoral ministry at Our Lady’s Youth Center. Beginning in 2009, Fr. Rosales served as a pastoral minister in the Diocese of El Paso, founding Father Rahm Council, a group of lay persons who assist in ministry and help support Sacred Heart Parish. He now serves as director of the Father Rahm Council and the Lord’s Ranch, and as a house consultor at Sacred Heart Parish Jesuit Community.