FR. SANTOS Castillo is serving the Lord at Saint Dominic Church, 440 East Briarcliff Road, Bolingbrook, IL 60440. Known to friends and family as Fr. Sunny, this young and good-looking priest truly lives up to his name with his cheerful and sunny disposition.
Born in Candon City and raised in Manila, Fr. Sunny received the early signs of his vocation by being named after a Benedictine monk from Ilocos Sur - Abbot Santos Rabang, OSB. He started pursuing this glimpse of a vocation by entering the formation program of San Pablo Seminary in Baguio City, finishing a degree in philosophy. He decided to leave formation, and ventured into gaining more experience in the workaday world. He became a philosophy teacher at the University of Baguio and Saint Louis University, and later, at the Ateneo de Manila University.
Fr. Sunny also earned his living by co-hosting a children’s show on ABS-CBN, and doing commercial modeling with Cosmopolitan Manila. After receiving an MA in Philosophy at the Ateneo, he decided to return to the priesthood track. He was accepted for a sponsorship by the Diocese of Joliet-in-Illinois, and entered into the theology program of University of St. Mary of the Lake / Mundelein Seminary, and was ordained a priest in 2004.
He has since been assigned to three parishes as parochial vicar - St. Mary Immaculate (Plainfield), St. Michael (Wheaton) and St. Dominic (Bolingbrook). In the past six years of his priestly ministry, he has also been involved in mission activities (Bolivia, Philippines and CHWC), online ministry (hapipadi on youtube), poetry (published two books) and pilgrimages (Fatima-Lourdes, Holy Land, Italy). Presently he has a growing interest in monastic spirituality.
Fr. Sunny has served in the US for six years now and presently working in the Diocese/Archdiocese of Joliet. n
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