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From the Courthouse to the Confessional: Fr. Tom Lam Leaves Law Career to Enter Priesthood
7/31/2008
 An undergraduate degree in history from the University of Texas at Austin, a law degree from UT, passing the Bar Exam, fulfilling a lifelong dream to work as an attorney – Tom Lam had achieved all of his goals, so he paused long enough to thank the Lord for all the blessings in his life.
“I was a point in my life where I was able to recognize all the things God had given me in my life,” Lam said. “Out of a sense of gratitude, I prayed to God to ask him how I could offer my life, how I could do something for God for a change, instead of always asking God for the things I wanted.”
He did not expect the answer and the conclusion which eventually resulted from his initial inquiry.
Father Lam, a graduate of the University of St. Thomas School of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary, was ordained into the priesthood on May 31, 2008 at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. Fr. Lam began his duties as a parochial vicar for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston at the Prince of Peace Catholic Community on July 1.
Fr. Lam’s call to the priesthood did not come immediately, but rather, it grew from a resurgence in his desire to learn more and ask more questions about his Catholic faith. To answer those questions, he delved into religious texts and sought the guidance of his parish priest, Fr. Michael Sean Horrigan at St. Michael’s Catholic Church.
Only two years into his hard-earned career as a commercial litigation attorney, Fr. Lam was hardly looking for a new vocation until Fr. Horrigan asked if Lam had ever considered being a priest. With the seed planted, Fr. Lam began soul-searching and discerning the priesthood.
“I took it pretty seriously, and I thought it was honor that anyone would suggest that I should be a priest,” Fr. Lam said. “It was definitely something that after intense praying, it grew stronger and stronger. My trust in God was something I wanted to explore.”
He went on to say, “I realized that Seminary is a place to discern, it’s not somewhere that you have to decide the day you walk in. I knew I could actually give it a chance to explore the call and always have my law degree and career to fall back on. But that never happened. A lot of people think that I left the law career because I was unhappy, but that’s not the case. It showed me that I could be even happier by doing God’s will.”
Fr. Lam has not had to leave the law entirely behind. As he carries out his duties as a priest, the Archdiocese has requested Fr . Lam to continue to take courses to maintain his law license.
Now with a liberal arts education in history, a legal education in hand, Fr. Lam reflected on his theological education at St. Mary’s Seminary.
“I’m grateful to have the opportunity to receive a theological education,” he said. “I was always thirsting for that knowledge of why I believed what I did so firmly. I believe it is a gift from God to understand my faith, to understand the Catholic teachings, to integrate in into my life and to share that knowledge with the people of God in the Archdiocese.”
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