To Lead and To Serve:
Chris Malano’s Vocations
Christopher Derige Malano is familiar with the call to lead. At the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, he became a student leader at the Aquinas Newman Center; became involved in the National Catholic Student Coalition and served on the executive board; and went on to work for the International Movement of Catholic Students - Pax Romana at the United Nations, eventually as Secretary General.
These roles – whether on the campus, national, or international level – shaped him to become good at accompanying people on their spiritual journeys and helping them find their vocations. This gift eventually led him to the Paulist Fathers.
Chris grew up in Waipahu, Hawaii, a suburb of Honolulu, in a family that was comprised of Catholics, Episcopalians, Orthodox Christians, and even some Buddhists. It was an ecumenical upbringing that encouraged learning from each other.
Yet his curiosity and questioning around faith flourished in college. “My experience of campus ministry was a formative part of my identity of being Catholic. It really solidified during my time in university – what it meant to wrestle with your faith, what it meant to dialogue and journey along with people.”
When he graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in history and religious studies, he worked for Pax Romana as part of its advocacy team in New York City, developing and advocating for policies that reflect the values of Catholic social teaching.
It was a master class on spirituality in action. “I learned in those years working at the UN that you cannot do charity without focusing on justice and you cannot focus on justice without understanding the immediate needs of people. I can write a policy, but if I have no relationship with the people then it’s an empty policy.”
As Secretary General of Pax Romana, based in Paris, Chris traveled to over 30 countries meeting with regional leadership, student organizations, and university chaplaincies. His role was to provide leadership development and help them better implement the projects they were undertaking in their own communities.
He was thriving in his career, but then felt a different call – the call to serve. He moved back to Hawaii in 2012 to take care of his grandmother.
“The transition was hard because I came home specifically to take care of my grandma, so I was mourning the fact that I could’ve climbed the ladder and advanced in my previous work. But there was a tugging of my heart, the tugging to care, the tugging to answer something that was greater than myself.”
During this time, Chris earned his master’s degree in global development and social justice at St. John’s University in Rome, occasionally traveling there in stretches for the hybrid program. Then he became the pastoral administrator of the Newman Center - Holy Spirit Parish, the campus ministry at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
At a Jesuit retreat he attended, Fr. Joseph McHugh, SJ, reminded Chris that he had an “unfinished conversation with God.” He had mostly avoided discerning the priesthood, but Chris knew it was time to wrestle with it.
On one hand, his vocation and entire career up to that point had been devoted to the church and serving God’s people. On the other hand, what was his responsibility to his family? Would he be saying no to serving them?
“Something I go through all the time is my responsibility to my family and God’s call – the wrestling with it. But because I was wrestling with it meant that the call was real. Otherwise, it would’ve been easy to decide my vocation was to my family. Because it was such a hard decision to make, it was an affirmation that the call was valid.”
Chris had become familiar with the Paulists throughout his career and was attracted to their mission and ministries. While in New York co-editing a book, “God’s Quad: Small Faith Communities on Campus and Beyond,” on a whim, he cold-emailed Fr. Dat Tran, the vocations director at the time, to start the conversation. After several retreats and much discernment, he resolved to apply in fall 2018.
Today, Chris, 41, is serving his pastoral year at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Community in Los Angeles. He will return to Washington, D.C., in July to resume his theology studies.
He is ever close to his family and still feels that pull toward them. “I’m coming to realize that just because I’m saying yes to the Paulists doesn’t mean I’m saying no to my family. And I can trust God that I can be faithful to both. It’s not an easy road, but it becomes clearer every year.”
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8
Ever since I went on a regional retreat for university students in UC Boulder, at which this verse was the theme, it has shaped the ways in which I respond to the ways God has called -- and continues to call -- me. Paulist Fathers founder, Servant of God Isaac Hecker, CSP, wrote, ‘We shall know more, love more, and do more, if we be more.’ Micah 6:8 helps to remind me that I can be a more just person and kind person in my interactions with others if I am more honest and vulnerable in my relationship with God.
Christopher Derige Malano
Year: Pastoral Year
Home State: Hawaii
Home Parish: Newman Center - Holy Spirit Parish in Honolulu, HI
Patron Saint: Sts. Damien and Marianne of Molokai
Education: B.A. in History and Religious Studies, University of New Mexico; M.A. in Global Development and Social Justice, St. John’s University
Current Location: Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Community, Los Angeles, CA
Chris co-edited the Catholic Press Association award-winning book, “God’s Quad: Small Faith Communities on Campus and Beyond”.
Profile by Estefania Garcia.
Christopher Derige Malano
Year: Pastoral Year
Home State: Hawaii
Home Parish: Newman Center - Holy Spirit Parish in Honolulu, HI
Patron Saint: Sts. Damien and Marianne of Molokai
Education: B.A. in History and Religious Studies, University of New Mexico; M.A. in Global Development and Social Justice, St. John’s University
Current Location: Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Community, Los Angeles, CA
Chris co-edited the Catholic Press Association award-winning book, “God’s Quad: Small Faith Communities on Campus and Beyond”.
Christopher Derige Malano is familiar with the call to lead. At the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, he became a student leader at the Aquinas Newman Center; became involved in the National Catholic Student Coalition and served on the executive board; and went on to work for the International Movement of Catholic Students - Pax Romana at the United Nations, eventually as Secretary General.
These roles – whether on the campus, national, or international level – shaped him to become good at accompanying people on their spiritual journeys and helping them find their vocations. This gift eventually led him to the Paulist Fathers.
Chris grew up in Waipahu, Hawaii, a suburb of Honolulu, in a family that was comprised of Catholics, Episcopalians, Orthodox Christians, and even some Buddhists. It was an ecumenical upbringing that encouraged learning from each other.
Yet his curiosity and questioning around faith flourished in college. “My experience of campus ministry was a formative part of my identity of being Catholic. It really solidified during my time in university – what it meant to wrestle with your faith, what it meant to dialogue and journey along with people.”
When he graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in history and religious studies, he worked for Pax Romana as part of its advocacy team in New York City, developing and advocating for policies that reflect the values of Catholic social teaching.
It was a master class on spirituality in action. “I learned in those years working at the UN that you cannot do charity without focusing on justice and you cannot focus on justice without understanding the immediate needs of people. I can write a policy, but if I have no relationship with the people then it’s an empty policy.”
As Secretary General of Pax Romana, based in Paris, Chris traveled to over 30 countries meeting with regional leadership, student organizations, and university chaplaincies. His role was to provide leadership development and help them better implement the projects they were undertaking in their own communities.
He was thriving in his career, but then felt a different call – the call to serve. He moved back to Hawaii in 2012 to take care of his grandmother.
“The transition was hard because I came home specifically to take care of my grandma, so I was mourning the fact that I could’ve climbed the ladder and advanced in my previous work. But there was a tugging of my heart, the tugging to care, the tugging to answer something that was greater than myself.”
During this time, Chris earned his master’s degree in global development and social justice at St. John’s University in Rome, occasionally traveling there in stretches for the hybrid program. Then he became the pastoral administrator of the Newman Center - Holy Spirit Parish, the campus ministry at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
At a Jesuit retreat he attended, Fr. Joseph McHugh, SJ, reminded Chris that he had an “unfinished conversation with God.” He had mostly avoided discerning the priesthood, but Chris knew it was time to wrestle with it.
On one hand, his vocation and entire career up to that point had been devoted to the church and serving God’s people. On the other hand, what was his responsibility to his family? Would he be saying no to serving them?
“Something I go through all the time is my responsibility to my family and God’s call – the wrestling with it. But because I was wrestling with it meant that the call was real. Otherwise, it would’ve been easy to decide my vocation was to my family. Because it was such a hard decision to make, it was an affirmation that the call was valid.”
Chris had become familiar with the Paulists throughout his career and was attracted to their mission and ministries. While in New York co-editing a book, “God’s Quad: Small Faith Communities on Campus and Beyond,” on a whim, he cold-emailed Fr. Dat Tran, the vocations director at the time, to start the conversation. After several retreats and much discernment, he resolved to apply in fall 2018.
Today, Chris, 41, is serving his pastoral year at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Community in Los Angeles. He will return to Washington, D.C., in July to resume his theology studies.
He is ever close to his family and still feels that pull toward them. “I’m coming to realize that just because I’m saying yes to the Paulists doesn’t mean I’m saying no to my family. And I can trust God that I can be faithful to both. It’s not an easy road, but it becomes clearer every year.”