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Parochial Vicar
Fr. Dominic Savio entered the world on July 16, 1978, in Narsipatnam, India, instantly making life much louder for his parents, Potnruru Sundar Rao and Sarada Lakshmi. As the oldest of four children, Dominic quickly realized that survival required divine intervention and excellent negotiation skills. He hit his spiritual stride a bit late, receiving his First Holy Communion in the ninth grade, which proved that the Holy Spirit is incredibly patient. Deciding that sharing a house with three younger siblings was great preparation for community life, he ran away to the seminary on August 10, 1994, right after the tenth grade, and made his first religious vows in 1998. He made his final, "no-takebacks" vows in 2004, was ordained a deacon in 2005, and finally became a priest on February 22, 2006, for the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales, Visakhapatnam Province.
If degrees were spiritual currency, Fr. Dominic would be trying to buy his way into heaven's VIP section. He holds a bachelor’s in English literature, Philosophy, and Theology, a master’s in counseling psychology from India, a second Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy from Friends University in Kansas and is currently wrestling his way through a Ph.D. program at Alliant International University in Sacramento. He is desperately praying to complete his doctoral defense in September 2026, assuming his brain doesn't melt first. Philosophically, he likes to ponder the mystery of God; psychologically, he just wants to figure out why humans are so beautifully chaotic.
Before coming to America, the Church in India used Fr. Dominic as a multi-tool. He served as a parochial vicar in St. Peter’s Cathedral Gnanapuram of Visakhapatnam Archdiocese, Our Lady of Compassion Parish in Medipally, Hyderabad Archdiocese, as dean of studies in Fransalian Vidya Jyothi and MSFS Salesian Ashram, a school financial officer in Warangal, MSFS schools’ therapist in Visakhapatnam province, and the superior of a provincial house. He also sang in choirs, worked with the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and teamed up with the Missionary Sisters of Charity to care for differently abled individuals, proving that he literally cannot say "no" to a good cause.
In 2016, Fr. Dominic brought his talents and his rapidly growing academic transcript to the United States. He spent five years in Catholic Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, serving as a parochial Vicar at St. Paul University Parish, a hospital chaplain, and a pastor to three different parishes (Eureka, Hamilton and Madison) simultaneously. In 2021, he moved to the Diocese of Santa Rosa, living in Napa and working as a full-time hospital chaplain, began his Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy commuting to Sacramento. By 2023, he arrived in the Sacramento Diocese, worked as parochial vicar at St. Charles Borremeo Parish for six months and eventually becoming the pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Carmichael.
Realizing that pastoring a parish, experiencing the human pressures and writing a doctoral dissertation at the same time is a form of self-inflicted penance, Fr. Dominic resigned as pastor in 2025. He spent one year living at Holy Cross in West Sacramento, helping neighboring parishes and desperately typing away at his thesis. He also managed to present a research paper in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 2025 on how mental health professionals experience spirituality. Somehow, between his books, homily guides, and academic papers, he currently keeps himself busy seeing 20 to 25 therapy clients a week.
Beginning August 1, 2026, Fr. Dominic will officially start his new chapter as the Parochial Vicar of St. John the Baptist in Folsom. He arrives armed with a PhD candidate's brain, a therapist’s heart, a priest's soul, and a profound awareness that he is simply a cracked vessel carrying invaluable treasure and a deep prayer that the good people of Folsom will be gentle with a priest who is only one cup of water away from a psychological breakthrough. Please pray for him as he prepares to defend his dissertation in September and pray that someone will have to remind him every now and then to sleep!