Dehonianer
On 2 February 1967 he made his perpetual profession in the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and on 7 December 1969 was ordained a priest. He was assistant pastor in Taubaté, superior of the Dehonian scholasticate and then rector of the Dehonian Theological Institute in that same city, as well as superior of the South Brazilian Province of the Congregation.