A native of Laos who came to Quebec as a young child, Father Lamphone Phonevilay grew up in a Catholic family in Montreal. He drifted from the faith as an adult, until a personal tragedy led him back to the Church. A profound experience at Saint Joseph's Oratory would later reshape the course of his spiritual life. He went on to work in parish ministry, then as head of Montreal's diocesan Catechumenate. In 2019, he answered a call to religious life and joined the Order of Preachers, becoming a Dominican friar. He was ordained a priest in Quebec City on August 30, 2026, by Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, Archbishop of Quebec, becoming the first Laotian-born priest ordained in Canada. Here, he reflects on that journey, on his discernment, and on the message he hopes to leave with young people wrestling with their own sense of vocation.

You grew up in Montreal, but you were ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Quebec. Can you tell us about the journey that led you there?

I was born in Laos in 1979, into a Catholic family. We immigrated to Canada in 1980. I grew up in Quebec, mostly in Montreal. As a teenager, I went to Mass and taught myself to pray the rosary. My family didn't observe the faith very closely by then. As an adult, I drifted from the faith. What brought me back was a personal tragedy: a friend of mine was murdered in her own apartment, and I needed to make sense of that grief somehow. One day at Saint Joseph's Oratory, I had an experience I can only describe as mystical. It convinced me the Church's teaching on the mystery of the Eucharist was true. From there, I kept growing in my faith. I went on to work in parish ministry, and later as head of Montreal's diocesan Catechumenate, which prepares adults for baptism and full entry into the Church. In 2019, I entered the Dominicans, formally known as the Order of Preachers. On August 30, 2026, I was ordained a priest at Saint-Dominique Church in Quebec City by Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, becoming the first priest of Laotian origin to be ordained in Canada.

When did you first sense a call to the priesthood? Was there a particular person, encounter, or moment that shaped your discernment?

Before the priesthood, I first thought about religious life. I was around 14 the first time it crossed my mind. I didn't really know what religious life looked like in practice, but even then I had a desire for God that drew me toward it. The priesthood itself came naturally, as I moved further along in my Dominican formation.

What have you discovered, both personally and spiritually, through your time in the Quebec City region?

The Archdiocese of Quebec is the oldest in North America north of Mexico. It carries enormous historical weight, home to some remarkable figures of sainthood tracing back to the earliest days of New France. And the people of Quebec City are known for their warmth and hospitality.

Looking back on your formation and discernment, what moves you most about becoming a priest?

What moves me most is that the Lord would choose someone as "imperfect" as I am to be a minister of his love. That he would use me to nourish the faithful spiritually through the Eucharist, and to show them his mercy through the sacrament of reconciliation, is something I still can't quite take in.

You grew up in Montreal and know the city well. How has that experience shaped the way you see the Church, and your priestly ministry?

Montreal is Quebec's metropolis, a place marked by diversity at every level. Living and working there naturally exposed me to that diversity, which you find as much within the Church as in society at large. That exposure is a gift I hope to draw on in my pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Quebec.

Now that you have been ordained, what message would you offer to young people who are questioning their vocation, whether to the priesthood or another form of calling?

I would invite young people to trust in the Lord, and to trust themselves too. So many of them feel drawn to consecrate their lives to him, but they worry they won't measure up to what that commitment demands. Others are afraid of the sacrifices such a path requires. What I would say is that every choice in life comes with its own sacrifice; that isn't unique to priests or religious. But my own experience has shown me that when you give your life to the Lord, he gives back a hundredfold. I have never once regretted my choice. It has brought me far more joy than anything I left behind when I entered religious and priestly life.