I am originally from the east coast of Mexico, the City of Matamoros, in the State of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is situated across Brownsville, Texas. I am the youngest of eleven, thirteen, including mother and father. My family and I immigrated from in 1980 and settled in the City of Porterville. I was only 7yrs old at the time. I attended Belleview Elementary from 2nd grade thru 6th. I then attended Bartlett Middle School and graduated from Porterville High School in 1991. I was then blessed with the opportunity to attend Fresno State University, where I majored in Civil Engineering in the fall of 1997.

I worked approximately 8 years as a Civil Engineer for the California Department of Transportation. I worked in three of their units, they are: Construction, Project Management, and Design. The last project I worked on was the preliminary design work of the 6 mile stretch of Highway 101 in the City of Prunedale, where 156 and 101 merge.

I started discerning this awesome call to the priesthood months after I had graduated from college, and as I was working as an engineer.  I finally responded to our Lord’s call to follow Him as a priest and entered priestly formation in 2006.

I attended St. John’s Seminary, in Camarillo, Ca. I was ordained a priest in 2012 and since I have and continue to be extremely honored, grateful, and joyful to have received and responded to our Lord’s invitation to serve him as an ordained priest.

My first priestly assignment was in Merced at Sacred Heart parish, which I refer to as my first love. 10 months after a need arose in Huron, Saint Francis Cabrini parish, and I was sent by our bishop there. I served there for 1yr and 3 months until another need arose and bishop assigned me here to the beautiful City of Visalia as associate pastor.

It was a great joy to have worked with Fr. Eric for 2 yrs here at Good Shepherd Catholic Parish. I then was asked by bishop Armando to be rector of St. John’s Cathedral. I was there for the last 3 years. I was asked by Bishop Brennan to be the pastor of this our parish. I have only been ordained for 8 yrs and my experiences have been beyond all my expectations. I praise God our Father for that. I return to you as your pastor with great enthusiasm and joy. I know the challenges ahead are monumental, but with God not insurmountable. Together, guided by God’s infinite grace, we will accomplish that which our Lord through his Church asks of us.

Rest assured of my daily prayers for each and everyone of you, my dear parishioners. I ask for your continual prayers as well.

May God continue to bless, guide, and protect us all, Fr. Alex Chavez 

Originally considering a career in law and government, Father Dalton was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Fresno on May 28, 2022. Born in Visalia in 1993, Father Dalton is the second of three children with which the Lord chose to bless Tony and Penni Rogers. Raised in the Porterville/Terra Bella area as a Missouri Synod Lutheran, Father Dalton attended St. Anne's Catholic School, where he was eventually received into the Catholic Faith. Very active in the leadership of his high school, parish, and community, he decided to pursue studies at U.C. Merced, where he earned his B.A. in political science. God kept tugging at his heart until he couldn’t resist the call to discern whether he might best serve the Lord as a priest. In 2015, Father Dalton entered priestly formation at Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Oregon. There he completed the M.A. in Philosophy (2018), M.A. in Theology (2022), M.Div (2022), and S.T.B. (2022). Fr. Dalton is excited to begin his priestly ministry at Good Shepherd Catholic Parish of Visalia.