When the Gargiulos’ nine-year-old daughter was on life support for 40 days due to complications from an appendectomy, they would sometimes call their pastor, Father Romeo Jazmin, in the middle of the night, and he’d rouse himself and go to the hospital to pray and offer spiritual and emotional support.
“He’s a very caring person and a good shepherd,” said Joe Gargiulo.
“[Father Jazmin] is a fantastic listener who has an innate ability to understand exactly what you are going through and … calmly redirect your focus to what’s important,” said Joe’s wife, Sheila Gargiulo.
They are parishioners at Prince of Peace, Chesapeake, where Father Jazmin, often called Father Romy, was pastor from 2007 to 2022. Father Jazmin marked 40 years as a priest on June 22.
“He cares about his parishioners and wants to help them,“ said Mary Riley, a fellow Prince of Peace parishioner. “I felt like we could call him at the drop of the hat, and whenever we needed him, no matter what time and no matter what, he would be there.”
Father Jazmin is currently pastor of the Peninsula Cluster Parishes, which includes St. Joseph, Hampton; St. Mary Star of the Sea, Fort Monroe; and St. Vincent de Paul, Newport News.
The second of four children, he was born Sept. 8, 1959, in Pangasinan and raised in Sorsogon in the Philippines. His father, a bus driver, traveled often, but his mother kept a Catholic presence in the home. The family went to Mass together and prayed the rosary together each night. Father Jazmin was an altar boy.
Just as he does today, Father Jazmin loved the outdoors as a child and spent much of his time at the beach or his grandparents’ farm. He was also athletic, playing on school basketball teams from elementary school through seminary and running in college and seminary.
In fact, it was basketball that drove him to the seminary in the first place. After going to a public elementary school, he went to a Catholic high school in Sorsogon because his friend was headed there and because it had “a nice basketball court.”
He graduated in 1975 and went to Holy Rosary Major Seminary in Naga City, Camarines Sur, again because his friend enrolled there and because it had a good basketball court. He studied philosophy at Holy Rosary and then entered Our Lady of the Angels Seminary, a Franciscan school, in Quezon City. He was ordained June 22, 1985.
After ordination, he studied cross-cultural counseling at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, California. He returned to the Philippines in 1987 to serve as a parochial vicar and then pastor at various parishes. He also taught at a seminary.
In 1997, he returned to the United States for seven months with his bishop, during which time the bishop planned a mission appeal to build a retirement home for the clergy and to support Our Lady of Peñafrancia Seminary in Sorsogon City. Father Jazmin went back to the Philippines but returned in 1998 with the bishop and another priest to travel the country for 32 days on the mission appeal.
Father Jazmin served as parochial vicar at Holy Spirit, Virginia Beach (1999 to 2001); pastor at Church of the Holy Angels, Portsmouth (2001 to 2005); and pastor of the Cluster Parishes of Portsmouth and Chesapeake when it formed in 2005. The cluster consists of St. Mary, Chesapeake; Church of the Holy Angels, Portsmouth; Church of the Resurrection, Portsmouth; and St. Paul, Portsmouth. In 2007, he was assigned to Prince of Peace during which time he was pastor of Church of St. Thérèse, Chesapeake, for a year. In 2022, he was assigned to the Peninsula Cluster.
He said his number one priority as a pastor is to take care of his flock and to “support and nourish them with the Eucharist.” What he loves most about being a priest is “being an instrument of God’s love to his people.”
His parishioners say he does just that.
“He’s always available for us. I haven’t seen him turn anything down or turn anyone away. He’s always willing to help,” said Bobbye Sinclair, a St. Joseph parishioner.
At Prince of Peace, Father Jazmin started a food pantry and doubled the number of ministries to more than 50. Among them were a health ministry, military ministry and rosary ministry which made and distributed rosaries to military personnel about to deploy. He is continuing and improving outreach ministries at the Peninsula Cluster.
“Since I became a priest, my heart always put importance to the poor and the least fortunate … to be able to feed and assist them both in their spiritual and physical needs,” he said.
He said he loves being a priest: “I love the joy of touching lives.”