Deacons Alan Cavin and Peter Gomes are two of six men scheduled for ordination to the permanent diaconate in 2017.
Alan Cavin
Deacon Alan Cavin is 60 years old and was born in Nanaimo. He speaks English and Spanish. Alan married his wife Lise in 1983 and they have two adult children: Alan and Michelle. Their parish is St. James in Abbotsford.
Deacon Cavin completed a bachelor's in business administration and marketing management at Trinity Western University. He completed BCIT's program in marketing management and fundraising management for non-profits and is studying toward a master's in pastoral theology at St. Mark’s.
Deacon Cavin is resource development coordinator for Communitas Supportive Care Society. Previously he was a realtor and small business owner.
Baptized Anglican, Deacon Cavin had a conversion experience in 1976 and spent three years studying at Summit Pacific (a Pentecostal Bible college). He was involved in a Baptist community afterwards (he and Lise were married at a Baptist church in Mexico City). He was received into the Catholic Church in 2004, where he has been very active since.
Deacon Cavin was ordained to the Sacred Order of the Diaconate Oct. 7 at Holy Rosary Cathedral.
Peter Gomes
Deacon Peter Gomes is 57 years old and was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the second of three sons in his family. He is married to Frances and they have three daughters. They are parishioners of Our Lady of Fatima, Coquitlam.
An accountant for 30 years, Peter is a FCMA of UK and a CPA of Canada. He has a master's in business administration from the University of Colombo. He immigrated to Canada in 2007 and is cost accounting manager in a food manufacturing company in Langley.
Deacon Gomes has been involved in the charismatic renewal movement for 40 years and takes an active leadership role in three different prayer groups. He entered the permanent diaconate program in 2013.
Deacon Gomes was ordained to the Sacred Order of the Diaconate Oct. 7 at Holy Rosary Cathedral.
Deacon Richard Chau
Deacon Richard Chau is 64 years old. He was born in Hong Kong and became a permanent resident of Canada in 1993. He speaks Cantonese and English. Richard married his wife Louisa in 1974 and they have two adult children: Nicole and Timothy. Their parish is Holy Rosary Cathedral.
Deacon Chau has completed bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering as well as a master's in business administration, all in Australia. He also has a graduate diploma in Christian studies from Regent College. He has worked in IT and telecommunications, taught at TWU, and is an instructor at BCIT .
After almost 40 years of faith as a Protestant, Deacon Chau was received into the Catholic Church in 2010. He is active in RCIA and stewardship at the cathedral and is training to be a mission leader for Project Timothy.
Deacon Chau was ordained to the Sacred Order
of the Diaconate May 26, 2017.
Deacon Patrick (Pat) Dwan
Patrick is 72 years old and was born in New Westminster. He and his wife Lynn married in 1968. They have four adult children: Angela, Kathleen, Christopher and Lisa, and 15 grandchildren.
Pat completed aircraft maintenance training in 1966 at BCIT and became a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer. His career has been in the aerospace industry, with an emphasis on marketing in the last 15 years; he maintains his own part-time consulting business now that he is retired.
Pat and Lynn attend St. Frances de Sales, the parish where he was baptized, confirmed, and married. He has served as a reader and an extraordinary minister of holy Communion, as well as with the hospitality ministry; he was Catholics Come Home coordinator for the parish in 2013.
Deacon Dwan was ordained to the Sacred Order of the Diaconate May 26, 2017.
Deacon Tony Gray
Deacon Gray is 71 years old. He was born in England and became a permanent resident of Canada in 1967. He married his wife Wendy in 1988. He has two adult children, Paul and Leah, from a previous (annulled) marriage, and he is a grandfather.
The Grays' parish has been St. Anthony’s in West Vancouver since they moved from Calgary in 2011.
Deacon Gray completed a bachelor of education in 1975 and a master's in educational administration in 1984,
both in Calgary. He worked for the Calgary Catholic School District,
spending the last 20 years of his career as a principal. He retired in
2005.
His parish involvement includes coordinating RCIA, sitting on the parish planning committee, serving at the altar, and reading at Mass. In Calgary, he was an extraordinary minister of holy Communion for a care centre and helped at Inn From The Cold, a relief ministry.
Deacon Gray was ordained to the Sacred Order of the Diaconate May 26, 2017.
Raul Solano
Raul Solano is 59 years old. He was born in El Salvador and immigrated to Canada in 1989. He speaks Spanish and English, and reads Portuguese. He married his wife Maria in 1988 and they have four children: Graciella (25), Monica (23), Matthew (13), and Gavin (7). The boys were adopted.
He and his wife are parishioners at Our Lady of Sorrows and are also active in various capacities at Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Solano spent a number of years in seminary with the Franciscans,. After completing the novitiate, he was a religious in temporary vows for about one year before discerning he was not called to the priesthood.
He completed a bachelor's degree in philosophy (1985) in Guatemala and a master's in Spanish literature (1989) in Texas. Upon coming to Canada, he trained as a licensed practical nurse and has worked in this field ever since, particularly with the elderly.
Among many avenues of service, Solano has presented and coordinated for Marriage Encounter, given marriage preparation talks, taught Spanish to the children of immigrants, and helped migrant farm workers.
Raul Solano will be ordained to the Sacred Order of the Diaconate on Friday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m. at Holy Rosary Cathedral.