Frank Castillo

As a first term Pastoral Council member Frank’s most looking forward to being a member of a team that’s working to re-vitalize our multi-faceted and multi-cultural parish community and to address vocational, stewardship, and spiritual interests. 

Frank has generously shared his talents and gifts in many ways with our parish since he and his wife joined St. Raphael in 1997. He’s taught Faith Formation for middle and high school (English and Spanish), been an RCIA sponsor, served as the parish’s Cubmaster for two years, and serves as a Eucharistic Minister and Lector (Spanish and English). He’s also served with the Knights of Columbus since 1998 and as Grand Knight for 2 of those years, participated in Contemplativo in Accion Faith Sharing Ministry for 3 years, and taught American Red Cross CPR/AED/First Aid classes for the ushers (English and Spanish) and coordinated the ushers in Workplace Violence Awareness (English and Spanish). 

In addition to his generous service to St. Raphael, Frank also shares his talents with the Disaster Services Team with the Triangle Area chapter of the local Red Cross, representing them within the Hispanic/Latino community offering inclement weather advice and warnings, as well as increasing safety awareness for the community, e.g. heat illness, water safety, storm preparation, and driving in inclement weather conditions. In the past, he also led Scoutreach, a program to enroll underrepresented minority boys into the Scouting Program.

Frank holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology (Pre-medical) from Spring Hill College (class of 1981) and a Master’s of Science in Secondary Education (Science instruction) from the University of Miami (class of 2002). Additionally, he has two MESH certificates from NCSU in General Industry and Construction. (Manager of Environmental Safety and Health).

Frank has been married to his wife Yolanda for 33 years. They have three grown children, Nicole (30 yrs), Jessica (28 yrs), Javier (26 yrs.). In his spare time, Frank enjoys traveling to foreign countries, cooking (local/from various countries), reading books on history and biographies, spirituality, and outdoor activities like bicycling and hiking. He once saved a young man’s life from anaphylactic shock when he was stung by yellow jackets along the Appalachian Trail in Virginia.

Something people may be surprised to learn about Frank is that he served in the US Marine Corps, originally training to become an Interrogator/Translator but was not allowed to continue because he had a communist uncle in Cuba. He then became a TOW Missile Gunner, and augmented to NBC Defense Instructor for his unit in Miami. He was also Catholic Lay Leader in Recruit Training and assisted the Chaplain at his unit with Sunday prayer sessions and led the evening prayer during the unit’s celebration of the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. Frank also holds an Ikkyu (high brown belt) rank in Kodokan Judo.