Dennis Allan Vivar Marzan, SJ, was born in Manila, Philippines, and immigrated to California at age 12. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history in 1999 from the University of San Francisco, where he met the Jesuits, and a master’s degree in political sociology from the London School of Economics in 2004. Before entering the Jesuit novitiate in 2016, he worked in the nonprofit sector with the Filipino American Development Foundation in San Francisco; the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in Los Altos, California; and Mission Hiring Hall in San Francisco. In 2012, through Our Lady of Fatima Russian Byzantine Catholic Church in San Francisco, he became an Eastern Catholic.
Dennis entered the Society of Jesus in 2016, and as a novice, served as a hospital chaplain at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, California, and worked at Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, Washington, serving in campus ministry and as the bowling club chaplain. After first vows, he completed philosophy studies at Fordham University, earning a master’s degree in philosophical resources in 2020. From 2020 to 2022, he taught freshman religion at Loyola High School of Los Angeles and assisted with campus ministry.
Dennis earned a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology from the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University. He served as a deacon at three churches in California: Our Lady of Fatima Russian Byzantine Catholic Church in San Francisco; St. Elias Melkite Catholic Church in Hayward; and St. Ignatius of Antioch Roman Catholic Church in Antioch. He was also a volunteer hospital chaplain at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. After ordination, he will serve as an associate pastor at St. Ignatius Loyola Parish in Sacramento, California.
