On Sept. 14, six men officially committed to discerning the priesthood during the Seminarian Commitment Mass at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church in Grand Terrace. The Commitment Mass was presided by Bishop Alberto Rojas along with Father Hau Vu, Diocesan Director of Vocations, Father Dr. Javier González Cabrera, Rector of St. Junipero House of Formation, and other priests.
“Thank you to you our seminarians for having the boldness and the determination and the gentleness to proclaim that you are saying, ‘yes’ to the Lord in front of the bishop, in front of your family and friends, but first and foremost in front of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for doing this,” said Fr. González.
The six new seminarians are Michael Poulin from The Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Redlands, Cesar Caldera from St. John XXIII Parish in Rialto, Matthew Glaudini from St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Chino Hills, Oscar Montalvo from Our Lady of Assumption Parish in San Bernardino, Albert Salcedo from St. Patrick Parish in Moreno Valley, and Luis Morales from St. Christopher Parish in Moreno Valley.
These seminarians spent the past year in discernment at Bishop White Seminary in Spokane, WA. They were the first group to participate in an all-new priesthood formation stage adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). In this initial Propaedeutic formational year, they entered an environment of fellowship and discernment before formal admission to seminary.
At the Commitment Mass, current diocesan seminarians served as altar servers and as lectors, demonstrating the brotherhood and unity the seminarians have for each other. In addition, several diocesan priests were in attendance including Father Thomas Davis, Father Erik Esparza, Father Carlos Martinez, Father Rafael Partida, Father Charles “Gino” Galley III, Father Rogelio Gonzalez, Monsignor Anthony Eze and Father Benedict C. Nwachukwu-Udaku, Director of Academics at St. Junipero Serra House of Formation.
After Bishop Rojas gave his homily, Fr. González recited the Commitment liturgy and asked the six men several questions to affirm their decision to become seminarians. After the six men confirmed their decision, Fr. González approached each seminarian and offered them a book of the Liturgy of the Hours and told them, “This is the prayer of the church and each day when you use it remember this portion of that church to the Lord as you are remembered.” Then each seminarian replied, “Amen” as they took the book, confirming their commitment.
“We give thanks to God for this beautiful day,” Fr. González said. “We give thanks to God for the gift of life and for the beautiful gift he’s given to each one of us our own vocation. The vocation of married Life, the vocation of priesthood, the vocation of single life and religious life. We also give thanks to God in a very special way to all of you, mothers, fathers, of your sons present here, thank you because by your own, ‘yes,’ your son is also saying, ‘yes’ to our Lord Jesus Christ.”
At the conclusion of Mass, Bishop Rojas took a moment to congratulate and thank the new seminarians.
“Congratulations to our brothers who have committed their lives to growing day by day, year by year, conforming, as Father Javier said, ‘their life to the life of Jesus,’ to the life of the cross,” Bishop Rojas said.
After the Mass, family and friends of the newly committed six seminarians gathered for group photos with Bishop Rojas and other priests before convening to a beautiful reception in the parish hall. The faithful of the diocese are invited to pray for our new seminarians as they continue to follow God’s call at Saint Junipero House of Formation in Grand Terrace.
“As we take this moment of gratitude,” Fr. González said. “There is one request that we have for all of you, to continue praying for our seminarians, for our formators, for all of us. Let us continue praying day after day. You know, in a simple way, what takes place at the seminary, these young people are configured to the person of Jesus, as the Good Shepherd. That calls for a lot of prayer.”