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Father Augustine Mang was born in Myanmar (formerly Burma). He was ordained on May 27, 2023 at the Cathedral of the Incarnation. After ordination he returned to Rome where he had attended seminary to complete an advanced degree in theology.

Father Louis Rojas, SAC, was born in Bogota, Colombia, in March 1947 and lived there for nearly the first decade of his life until his mother, Elvira Millan, came to the United States to study to become a nurse.

Father Louis joined his mother just before his 10th birthday, arriving in the United States on Jan. 25, 1957. From there, he completed his schooling like any other boy, and was drafted by the U.S. Army in March 1968 and served until March 1970.

Then, he found The Society of the Catholic Apostolate, where he entered as a novice in 1970, at the age of 22.

The Society of the Catholic Apostolate, or the Pallottines, are a Society of Apostolic Life within the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded in 1835 by a Roman priest, St. Vincent Pallotti. Pallottines are part of the Union of Catholic Apostolate and are present in 45 countries on six continents.

As a young man, Father Louis said he always looked up to the priests around him.

Then, while looking at five different religious orders, he knew he wanted to be part of the Pallottines.

But it’d be nearly three decades before he’d make his priestly promises. Instead, he made his first profession as a brother with the Pallottines on Aug. 22, 1972.

In those 25 years, Father Louis found himself working in many roles and places around the country and the world. It included teaching at a Pallottine School in New Jersey, where he was in charge of cooking in the cafeteria every day; cleaning and cooking at the seminary; helping out with religious education and youth groups in parishes; completing his own studies in theology, and more. But it was while he was serving villages in Mexico, that his path to the priesthood was revisited.

From there, because of discussions that needed to be had with his provincial of the Pallottines, it took two more years, but Father Louis was finally ordained a priest on April 21, 1997, the birthday of St. Vincent Pallotti.

Following his ordination, Father Louis spent four more years as a priest in Mexico before coming back to the United States where he served at St. Joseph Church in Hamilton, New Jersey; St. Leo Church in Baltimore; and Resurrection Church in Baltimore.

Then, in 2008, he was asked by the late Bishop David Choby to come and help with Hispanic ministry in the Diocese of Nashville. While he helped wherever he was needed he has generally worked with the Hispanic ministries at St. Philip and St. Catherine of Sienna.

He also served as pastor of St. William in Shelbyville from 2015 until his retirement in 2022.

Bio adapted from The Tennessee Register.