The Provincial Chapter of Holy Name of Jesus Province met in the Priory of St. Albert the Great in Oakland, California. The friars re-elected Christopher Fadok, OP as Prior Provincial. The Master of the Order confirmed the election and fr Christopher accepted his office on the same day, 13 January 2023.
Fr. Christopher was re-elected by the Chapter capitulars on Thursday, January 13, 2023 and now begins his second four-year term. Over the next few weeks, he will work with the capitulars to work on legislation, assignments, challenges, and vision of the Province.
Born in 1968 and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Fr. Christopher attended Catholic grade school at Most Holy Trinity Parish and his high school at Brophy College Preparatory. In 1986, he received an Air Force ROTC scholarship and studied engineering in Chicago. His thoughts at that time turned to God and philosophy and in 1987 he began to study philosophy at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Steeped in Anglo-American analytic philosophy, Fr. Christopher questioned his Catholic faith for years; however, impressed by the philosophical works of Pope St. John Paul II and other Catholic thinkers, he began a study of Catholic thought and formally returned to the Church, receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation in 1997. That same year he joined the Dominicans, whose life of prayer and study he greatly admired.
After six months in the Novitiate, he left the Order to discern a vocation to marriage. He returned to Arizona and dated the same wonderful woman for four years while working in the field of computers. Nonetheless, compelled by the power of the Gospel and a sense that God was truly calling him, Fr. Christopher returned to the Dominicans in 2002.
From the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Fr. Christopher received the degrees Master of Philosophy in 2006 and Master of Divinity in 2010. Ordained to the priesthood in 2010, he served as a parish priest at Blessed Sacrament, Seattle, WA, and as pastor of St. Raymond of Peñafort, Menlo Park, CA, Fr. Christopher placed great emphasis on the New Evangelization. In December 2016, he was appointed Socius and Vicar to the Provincial for the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. Fr. Christopher points to his mother and father, brothers and sisters, and their spouses – his entire family – as the greatest school of love and self-sacrifice he has known. All of them played an integral part in building up in him the strength to joyfully receive the grace of his religious vocation. Please pray for Fr. Christopher as he takes up his new leadership role.
We recommend to your prayers our brother’s service to the Order and the Church.