Fr. Allan Phan grew up in a family with Buddhist roots, but they sent him to Catholic school in Nebraska, where he began to flourish, and develop spiritual connections with all kinds of elements of the Catholic life, including and especially with St. Francis of Assisi.

Despite some objections from loved ones, he made the journey home to the Catholic Faith, and discerned a vocation to the priesthood, learning even more lessons about the life of faith through his experience of cancer and COVID-19. He is a priest of the diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska.