Fr. David “Dave” Tampus Concepcion is a rock star of sorts in priestly robes, with one pair each of black shoes and sneakers to his name. His flock consists of men and women inspired and enthralled by his homilies, insights and the religious pilgrimages he guides. His “conceptions” are a blend of doctrine and personal wisdom. His words, strung together like rosary beads, comfort you; keep you afloat like a lifeline; and enlighten you like merry Christmas bulbs on a string of lights.
By JOANNE RAE M. RAMIREZ
Photography by JAR CONCENGCO
As tens of thousands can and will attest, the words of Fr. Dave, chaplain of the Sto. Niño de Paz Chapel in Greenbelt, Makati, since January this year, reach out to the listener, whether spoken behind a church pulpit or from a rock by the Sea of Galilee. He doesn’t just preach — he reaches out with the wisdom of someone who knows and loves God, knows life and loves his fellowmen. And he is blessed with the grace to distill the Word of God and the deepest cries of man, and communicate them.
“Everything is grace,” says Fr. Dave, who is celebrating his 25th year as a priest this year. I was fortunate to be among those who joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land that he guided in 2019. After that pilgrimage, another Fr. Dave fans club was born.
Fr. David Dave’s deep understanding of people and his even deeper certainty of God’s love for them make him combine Gospel truth with everyday reality. He speaks in a language we all understand, with anecdotes that reflect the everyday experience — from the kanto to the castle.
From Lucena, Quezon, Fr. Dave has known deprivation in life. In college, he and a brother shared one pair of rubber shoes. When his older brother came home, the pair of shoes was aired briefly before Fr. Dave slipped his feet into them for his “turn” in the afternoon. When he was a young parish priest, there were times he and his helper shared a fried egg for breakfast, mysteriously found by the helper under the cloak of a statue of the Blessed Virgin inside the church. Fr. Dave was the parish priest of the Maria Goretti Parish in Paco, Manila before his new assignment, and is the current president of Catholic Travel Inc., which sets aside a portion of its earnings for sick and abandoned priests.
Fr. Dave, a professional mechanical engineer who earned his degree from Adamson University, entered the priesthood relatively late. But it was a calling he couldn’t silence. Even if he had a girlfriend at the time, he decided to enter the seminary in 1992. He was in his thirties.
He recalls that when he was preparing for marriage, there was a restless questioning inside him. So he went on a personal retreat. He recalls asking the Lord, “What it is you want of me?”
His discernment wasn’t immediate, but was unequivocal. “God was silent, but on the last weekend, He said, ‘Make a choice and I will bless you.’”
One final sign
Before he entered the seminary, he received another sign. “A friend of mine, without any idea that I was in the process of discernment, suddenly put his arm around me and asked, ‘Why don’t you become a priest?’ It was like ice water was doused all over me. I told myself, ‘This is it, this is it’.”
His girlfriend was in tears. But her tears were not the only emotional roadblock he had to hurdle. His father, a Protestant, was also very much against his entering the seminary. But he persisted, though he admits there were times he wished he wouldn’t be taken in. But he passed all tests.
Surviving a stabbing incident almost a decade earlier illumined his decision. Stabbed five times, he bled on the streets of the University Belt with no one stopping to help him. Somehow, he managed to drag himself to the FEU Hospital, where emergency surgery was performed on him. His doctor told him the knife wound missed his lungs by a hairline.
“I was half paralyzed and I was saved. Of course, you want to be grateful to God. But God didn’t ask, only after 10 years,” Fr. Dave recalls. When he crossed his personal Rubicon, he prayed to God: “I do not understand what is happening, but two things I know, You love me and You know I love you. Since then, every time I have a problem, when there are things I cannot understand, when I am besieged by questions, that is what I hold on to. ‘I know You love me and You know I love you.’ So, whatever I do, I’m doing it out of love for You.”
He has never regretted his decision to enter the priesthood, 25 years, at least 9,125 Masses, countless pilgrimages and counseling sessions and infinite prayers, after.
When our pilgrimage to the Holy Land in February 2019 was drawing to a close, I asked Fr. Dave what was the most fulfilling thing about leading a group of 49 people on a pilgrimage in a foreign land that had a packed itinerary, and he said, “The fact that we started on this journey as pilgrims, and returned home as family.”
Quoting Peter Gomes, he said, “The goal of the pilgrimage of life is to be one with the Creator. Our Christian faith is not the triumph of individual over evil or even the solitary accomplishment of good but rather a community, a fellowship of explicitly shared hopes and experiences, frustrations and failures.”
When asked by a millennial why more and more young people are losing interest in going to church, the good priest replied, “I tell parents, ‘Do not entertain the thought that your children are not listening to you.’ They might be quiet, or they might be doing something when you talk, but they are watching. So, they might not be very participative but they have a hunger that will surprise you. They listen. But once you get their involvement, you will be surprised. They are even more committed.”
How do you get there?
“You listen to them. Sorry, but we used to think the youth don’t like going to church because it’s boring. Not true. Maybe, the flock just want something more experiential. Karamihan kasi nakalutang (A lot are not focused). But if you set an example that they can relate to, they are able to empathize. They tell me, ‘Nagpapatawa ka, Father.’ (You are making us laugh.) No, I am serious, but you are the one laughing. Natatawa sila kasi hindi nila inaasahan na alam ko ’yung experience nila.” (They did not expect me to relate to their experiences.)
Fr. Dave’s personal goal is heaven. “As one saint said, ‘Apart from heaven, everything is a waste’. When I lost my father 12 years ago, I started to have a different perspective or understanding about the resurrection, about heaven. Not just a place where there is no more sickness, no problems. My vision of heaven is a place to see my father again. You need something concrete, and that is to see my father.”
Before his father died, the latter told him why he was so against his (Dave’s) entering the priesthood. His father’s last words on earth were addressed to Dave, “If you grow old and sick, who will take care of you?”
“I kept on crying. My father wasn’t mad at me. He was afraid for me,” Fr. Dave says. Thus, one of Fr. Dave’s advocacies is the care of sick and abandoned priests. Part of the income of Catholic Travel goes to them.
During a recent high school (Maryknoll, Lucena) reunion, Fr. Dave’s former classmates, including those who were expected to be priests, were astounded to hear him celebrate Mass.
“They were stunned. I told them, ‘Maniwala kayo pari na ako.’” (You better believe it, as I’m now a priest.)
His classmates replied, “Of all people!”
And Fr. Dave smiled, “Oo, tanggapin niyo na!” (Yes, you better accept it!)
David’s ‘conceptions’
1. “Don’t confuse your journey with your destination. Remember that our journey will not always be smooth. Martin Luther King said, ‘If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl, just keep moving towards your goal.’ Don’t stop!”
2. “Heaven is our goal. There’s an old saying, ‘If you keep throwing stones on all the dogs that bark along the way, you will miss your destiny.’ Just keep moving. God is waiting for you. Pursue blessing.”
3. “We must be willing to get out of the boat and embrace the storms of life. In order to sail, we need gusty winds.”
4. “God will not spare you from the storms of life. Maybe God is teaching you something. Just like muscles are formed by carrying weights, spiritual muscles are formed by the weight of trials. ‘Storms are your ticket to heaven.’ Maybe God put your boat on a stormy sea because, ‘Your enemies don’t know how to swim.’”
5. Quoting Robert Fulghum, “If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience.”
___
Art direction by DEXTER FRANCIS DE VERA
Grooming by EDDIE MAR CABILTES
