Photo from Sacred Hearts Brother Deacon Jeremy Sabugo’s blog at www.jeremysabugo.com. Clockwise from top left: the Sabugo family (Lourdes, Teodorico, Jeremy, Janelle and Joel) with Sacred Hearts U.S. provincial superior Father Johnathan Hurrell.
Sacred Hearts seminarian Jeremy Sabugo, ready for priestly ordination, mixes media in his ministry
By Darlene J.M. Dela Cruz
Hawaii Catholic Herald
From Sacred Hearts Brother Deacon Jeremy Sabugo’s blog at www.jeremysabugo.com. Sabugo meets Tahiti Archbishop Jean Pierre Cottanceau.
Faith. Family. Food. Film. Fashion. Fun.
You’ll find these topics and more on “The Real-igious Life,” a blog started by Sacred Hearts Brother Deacon Jeremy Sabugo. The 29-year-old Waialua native has been chronicling his journey as a religious with slick pics and a digital diary colorfully crafted with his communications expertise.
Sabugo is scheduled to be ordained a priest for the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. at St. Ann Church in Kaneohe.
Celebrating the Nov. 18 ordination Mass will be Tahiti Archbishop Jean Pierre Cottanceau, also of the Sacred Hearts order.
Sabugo’s path to priesthood has taken him around the world. From parish ministry in his hometown on Oahu’s North Shore, to studies in California and Fiji, to service work in Mexico, India, Indonesia and Europe, Sabugo has amassed a ton of stories to tell.
From Sacred Hearts Brother Deacon Jeremy Sabugo’s blog at www.jeremysabugo.com. Sabugo’s visit to the tomb of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary founders in France.
He started “The Real-igious Life” to show the diverse facets of his personality — his testimony that following the call of consecrating one’s life to God does not necessarily mean giving up the latest hipster hotspots or putting creativity aside. For Sabugo, living out his faith has given him more opportunities than he could ever have imagined.
The son of landscaper Teodorico Sabugo and nurse Lourdes Sabugo said his parents “taught me to always work hard in school.” His older brother Joel is completing studies at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, and younger sister Janelle recently graduated with a bachelor of science degree in biology from Pacific University.
Sacred Hearts Brother Sabugo told the Hawaii Catholic Herald that his grandparents came to Waialua Plantation Company as immigrants from the Philippines who “sought to live the American Dream.” That cultivated in Sabugo an ambitious heart.
“When I was younger I wanted to be three things: a doctor, a filmmaker and a priest,” he said.
He attended Waialua High School where he was active in band, sports and other extracurricular activities. Sabugo later earned a bachelor of arts degree in cinematic production at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. One of the projects in which he would put his film talents to use was the TV show “Lost.”
Sabugo said he was drawn to religious life when he noticed that the core of his life was “very much centered on God.”
From Sacred Hearts Brother Deacon Jeremy Sabugo’s blog at www.jeremysabugo.com. A selfie with Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron, one of Sabugo’s media “idols.”
“While my friends were planning their day’s program on going to the beach, I was planning my schedule for Sunday Mass and the next church retreat or event,” said the Sacred Hearts seminarian who spent his youth as a parishioner at St. Michael Church in Waialua.
“At the time, God was calling me to the priesthood, but I did not pay any attention to it,” Sabugo added. “At an older age, I avoided the question of the priesthood, but eventually, I finally said ‘yes’ to the call.”
At age 20 he entered the Sacred Hearts order. Sabugo said he “doubted religious life several times,” but overcame his fears as “the loving family of the Sacred Hearts” made him feel “spiritually at home.”
“Each day I found myself growing closer to the love of Jesus and Mary through the community with openness and liberation,” he said. “I knew from then on that religious life was God’s will for me.”
Sabugo recalls a pivotal moment in Poland. He was meeting up with colleagues from Canada in the Study Abroad program, and they ended up taking a train to a shrine of Pope John Paul II.
“My prayer that day was for guidance in my life decisions,” Sabugo said. “I questioned whether I would be happy if I became a priest, and all I could think of was the smile of the beloved John Paul II.”
Sabugo earned his master of divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California, in 2013. Earlier this month he completed his sacred theology studies at Pacific Regional Seminary in Fiji. He made his perpetual profession as a religious in 2016.
Sabugo said priestly formation has its challenges — for him the toughest is being away from loved ones in times of emergency — but it has been gratifying as well.
“Formation allows you to hone onto one’s gifts and talents for the ministry ahead which eventually becomes the voice in which you feel best spreads the Good News whether it’s the arts, social media, medical field, focus retreat groups,” he said.
“This is why it is essential to listen to your heart because it is where God speaks.”
The Sacred Hearts seminarian is feeling “a mixture of excitement and anticipation” as his priestly ordination approaches. He said he looks most forward to celebrating with friends and family before heading off to his first priestly assignment at Holy Name of Mary parish in San Dimas, California.
Counting down until ordination, Sabugo said it has been “Jesus Christ who has guided me and got me (to) where I am at now.”
“It is a great blessing to have a devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary because it teaches you how to love unconditionally,” he said. “My vocation journey in and of itself is a witness of the miracles (God) performs in people’s lives.”
Read more at “The Real-igious Life,” Sabugo’s online blog at www.jeremysabugo.com
