Father John Alex Gonzalez Biography
I was born in Tulua, Colombia, on January 6, 1969, in a family of two boys from Amparo Cruz and Adelmo Gonzalez, my parents.
I attended College seminary in Colombia for three years at: "San Pedro Apostol Seminary" in Cali, Colombia.
Once I took a little break from my seminary formation, I attended “Santo Tomas University,” in Colombia, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Political Sciences and Philosophy.
During this time, I was also teaching Philosophy and Spanish in a Franciscan High School in my hometown.
After my experience as a teacher for about 4 years, I came to the United States for the very first time in 1992 and I did some Theology at Saint Vincent de Paul seminary in Boynton Beach Florida.
My first experience in this country as a seminarian was at Incarnation Parish in Tampa Florida for a couple of months, but after two years of serious discernment, I decided to go back to my home country, Colombia. There, I resumed my teaching job in two high schools for 6 years in a Franciscan School and in the public school.
The Lord, however, had a different plan for my life and in  January of 1998, I Came back to US and was assigned as a seminarian of the Diocese of Raleigh to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Newton Grove where I only spent one month, before I was asked by my Vocation Director to move to Saint Paul's in New Bern where I did 17 months of Pastoral Internship before I was sent to complete my studies in Theology at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois, where I was for three years.
I graduated from Mundelein with a bachelor’s degree in Divinities, in May of 2002 and I was ordained as a priest on June 1st, 2001, at saint Andrews in Apex.
I was first assigned for a summer to saint Mark's in Wilmington, NC, then I returned to Mundelein Seminary for some STL studies.
In December 2002 I was assigned as a Parochial Vicar to saint Thomas More in Chapel Hill.
In June of 2005 I was assigned as a chaplain and Catholic Minister of NCSU and its Football Team. During that time, I also served as a Sacramental Minister to Sacred Heart Cathedral in Raleigh and as an assistant Vocation Director of the Diocese.
Six years later, in June of 2011 Bishop Burbidge assigned me as a pastor of Saint Joseph in Burgaw and transfiguration in Wallace with their Mission in Santa Clara, Magnolia.
Between June of 2014 and June 0f 2018, I served as a Pastor of Saint Mary Catholic Church and School; and my final assignment before I was given this year as a priest in residence here at Sacred Heart, was in Raeford at Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church.
As a person, I have always like most of the sports, I played Soccer and basketball throughout my high school and college but as much as I enjoy playing sports, I enjoy watching them, especially soccer, tennis, Basketball and Cycling.
The most influential people in my life were my grandparents with whom I spent a great deal of time.
I admired very much the work done by Johann Gutenberg, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Karl Rahner, Isaac Newton, William Shakespeare, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln.
My non-Biblical favorite quote is “People are like stained-glass windows.  They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within”.  ~Elisabeth Kübler-Ross