Fr. Ken Lao of the Companions of the Cross is the associate pastor of St. Mary’s Parish, Ottawa. He was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Masters in Business Administration from De La Salle University, where he had a powerful conversion in a charismatic prayer meeting in 1992. He worked in the food manufacturing industry in the Philippines and in China. He started to sense the call to the priesthood in 2006 while in China. He immigrated to Canada in 2008 and joined the Companions of the Cross in the same year. Six years later, he made his life-time promises to the community. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2015 and has served in parishes in Toronto and Halifax.
Fr. Ken is passionate about preaching and using all forms of social media to bring people to an encounter with God and be His disciples. He has his own YouTube Channel (Fr. Ken Lao, CC) where he posts his “Nuggets for the Soul”, “Homilies”, Talks”, and “FReaKEN Adventure” videos.