Fr. Gabriele M. White
Born and raised in Denver, Colorado I am the third of four boys, the oldest of whom is also a priest. We are members of an international missionary community called Work of Jesus the High Priest – Family of Mary. After having several missionary experiences in Russia with this community in the 1990s, I joined following my high school graduation. I spent three years in the idyllic Abruzzo region followed by five years of philosophical and theological studies at the Jesuit’s Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. For the first four years as a priest, I was in charge of the formation of our new vocations. In 2007, I was appointed rector of our seminary where I remained until my transfer to our
mission in the Archdiocese of Portland in July of 2023. After a brief tenure at St. Joseph the Worker Parish, I started here at St. Therese Church and School on December 1, 2023.For those who have never heard of or are unfamiliar with my community, we are currently five priests and three sisters present in the parishes of St. Therese, St. Jospeh the Worker and St. Henry. The Work of Jesus the High Priest is a Clerical Association that grew out of and is still one with the Association of the Faithful Family of Mary, whose initial approval was granted by the Vatican in 1995. As priests, brothers, and apostolic sisters, we share a common spirituality, shaped by love of Mary, a Eucharistic-priestly spirit and fidelity to the Holy Father. We have a missionary orientation and strive for true ecumenism so that Jesus’ promise of one flock under one shepherd (Jn. 10:16) might be realized. The community’s particular charism is praying and offering our lives to God in a special way for the sanctification of priests and priestly formation. Depending on the need of the mission, the exterior form of our apostolate varies greatly, ranging from parish work; teaching in schools; pastoral care of children, teenagers, families and elderly, as well as other charitable efforts, especially in the missionary territories. The community is currently working around the world in Italy, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, in the Slovak and Czech Republics, as well as in Uruguay, Kazakhstan, and Russia.