The Catholic Foundation for the Diocese is proud to announce the Fr. Alfred Galvan Scholarship Fund for Cathedral High School. Fr. Al was a proud Cathedral graduate and attributes his Cathedral experience to why he joined the priesthood. A man from humble beginnings, he was grateful for the opportunity to attend Cathedral. The Fr. Alfred Galvan Scholarship fund of $600,000, which is expected to be fully funded this year, will help many young men achieve their dream of being Cathedral Irishmen despite their financial ability, and it is with great hope they, too, will serve the church in the future as Fr. Al did.

Father Alfred Galvan was born at Hotel Dieu in El Paso, TX, to Oscar and Eleanor (Buchanan) Galvan on February 25, 1939. They lived near Cathedral High School on the corner of Campbell and Nevada.

He attended Morehead Grammar School and was a graduate of Cathedral High School in 1956. He credits Cathedral High School for inspiring his vocation. He attended Texas Western College (UTEP) for one year where he received a scholarship in music, and later earned a degree in Theology from the Seminary of St. Thomas and was ordained in 1965.

His first assignment was at Our Lady of the Light on Delta Street. From there, he went on to serve as the priest in Marfa, TX for five years. With the permission of the Bishop, he was able to be the Chaplain for the US Airforce for three years.

When he returned in 1973, he served as the pastor for Santa Lucia church in El Paso. He encouraged is parishioners to build a community at the parish which became a model that many parishes use to this day to manage their ministries.

Father Al discerned a call to join the Diocese of Las Cruces and requested to transfer, receiving appointment as Parochial Vicar for Immaculate Conception Church in Alamogordo, NM in May of 1992. He was appointed Pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Deming, NM in August of 1993 and served there for six years. While there, he also served as Vicar Forane of the Copper Vicariate. He became incardinated into the Diocese of Las Cruces in September of 1996.

Father Al was appointed Pastor of St Eleanor’s Catholic Church in Ruidoso, NM in October of 1999 and shepherded that community until he retired after he turned the age of 75. Father Al also served as Vicar Forane for the Tularosa Basin Vicariate and as a contract Catholic priest at Holloman AFB under the Archdiocese for the Military Services. Father Al loved his Ruidoso community and lived there in retirement until October of 2021 when he moved into the Good Samaritan Society in Las Cruces where he was able to enjoy priestly fraternity with fellow residents, Monsignors Bob Getz and John Anderson. He passed away on September 27, 2023.

You can read his interview here as a part of the UTEP Institute for Oral History Project in 1976.