Director

Deacon Stephen Tran, M. Ed.

Deacon Stephen is the Director of College Campus Ministry for the Diocese of Sacramento. He was born in Da Nang, Vietnam and came over the US as a young refugee after the Vietnam War at the age of 4. He’s a graduate of the University of the Pacific where he received his undergraduate degrees and Master’s Degree in Education. For the past 20+ years, he’s worked in the business world having owned his own franchise business, and rising up the corporate ladder with some of the top Fortune 50 companies in the world like Comcast, Amazon, AT&T, and BrightView mainly as a Regional and Divisional Sales Development Manager, Operations Manager, and Regional Sales Leader with a specialty in sales and marketing, training, consulting, and leadership development.

He is married to his beautiful wife ThaiTam celebrating their upcoming 17 year anniversary; he has two children LeAn & Thomas Thuan. Stephen is an ordained permanent deacon in the Diocese of Stockton assigned to St. Luke Parish and the Vietnamese Mary Help of Christians Catholic Center where he is involved with many of the ministries like Faith Formation, RCIA, Marriage & Baptism Prep, Eucharistic Ministry/Lectors, and the Liturgy committees, but his joy and energy comes mainly working with the youth of the community as they are our future church today. His favorite quotes to live by is, “To Lead is to Serve, to Serve is to Lead” and “I came not to be served, but to serve.” [Mk 10:45].

What event did you attend was the most memorable for you?

World Youth Day 1993 in Denver Colorado with St. Pope John Paul II. This was my first World Youth Day and the only one held in the US and I will never forget getting lost in a crowd of over 200,000 people while walking a 15 mile pilgrimage from Mile High Stadium to Cherry Creek National Park and being able to see the Pope only a few yards away, it brought such emotions and tears to my eyes and seeing the Vicar of Jesus was like seeing Jesus in person, especially with all the thousands of young people there present.

What do you enjoy doing during your free time?

I enjoy all types of sports. I like watching NFL or college football and my favorite team is the San Francisco 49ers growing up. I also enjoy basketball and playing tennis as well, as those were my two pastime sports I grew up playing in high school. I also enjoy binge watching Wuxia dramas, as it’s always a themed battle of good against evil, forgiveness or revenge, and love versus power.

What’s been your favorite meal?

There’s this famous place down near Anaheim called Tang Cang Restaurant that makes a one-of-a-kind lobster dish called the “Gigantic Newport Style Lobster,” which is a 20lb lobster stir fried over XO ginger and onion sauce layered over a bed of garlic noodles. Every time we go down to SoCal, it’s a tradition for us to drop by to enjoy this favorite dish that’s just finger licking good down to the last bite.

Program Coordinator

Clare Brady

Clare is the Program Coordinator for the Newman Catholic Center- Davis in the Diocese of Sacramento. She has been in ministry for the past 4+ years ranging from college ministry, to youth ministry, and music ministry.  Clare is a former student leader from the Chico Newman Center and is excited to be working alongside our dedicated students at UC Davis. If you have a chance to play golf with Clare, she promises to go easy on you.

We asked Clare three unusual questions to find out a little more about her.
​
What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better? Any quality time with friends. I love when we get a chance to hang out, laugh, and joke around over a meal or coffee.

What would you sing at Karaoke night?  Middle by Jimmy Eat World. It's a classic and I know people would sing along :)

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?  I love seared scallops with creamy rice, roasted veggies and a glass of white wine. Dessert would be a dark chocolate molten lava cake.

Chaplain.

Fr. Erik Pereira

Fr. Erik can be found serving the parishioners of St. James Parish as their Parochial Vicar, playing frisbee golf in his off time, or spending a whole Saturday in Santa Cruz in community with the Newman Catholic Center student leadership as they prepare for the year. 

The seeds of his vocation were planted in early childhood and slowly grew from there. While learning alongside supportive mentors, working part-time teaching music, and contributing to parish life, his call to the priesthood unfolded and he was ordained in June of 2022.

Now, he is excited and considers it an honor to serve as the Chaplain for the Newman Catholic Center at UC Davis.

We asked him some unusual questions to get to know him better:

What is your favorite thing to do when you're off?
My favorite thing to do on my day off is to sleep in, ride my bike, listen to music on, and eat a good meal.

If you could go anywhere in the world for one month where would you go and why?
If I could go anywhere for a month it would be The Holy Land so I could walk the footsteps of Jesus and visit the places he and the Apostles did their ministry.