Six men to be ordained to diaconate on their way toward priesthood
Seminarians reflect on their calls

By Denver Catholic Register

On Sept. 27, Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., will ordain six men from the two seminaries of the Denver Archdiocese to the diaconate as a step in their priesthood formation. The men are attending St. John Vianney Theological Seminary and Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary.

Name: Crispin Miguel Angel Enriquez
Age: 29
Born and reared: Guadalajara, Mexico
Seminary: St. John Vianney

Q:  Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: I was studying at St. Joseph Seminary in Guadalajara, Mexico, before coming  to St. John Vianney Seminary here in Denver. In Mexico I started in the minor seminary high school section. I finished my bachelor’s degree in philosophy in Guadalajara and my sacred theology bachelor’s degree here in Denver.
Q: When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: I felt a call to the priesthood when I finished middle school. I was an altar server. I felt a strong call to this vocation and here I am.

Q: What has been your favorite class or aspect of seminary life?
A:  My favorite classes are on the Scriptures, especially St. John and the Letters of St. Paul.

Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: I like to play tennis and soccer, and I enjoy track and field sports. I also like reading.

Q: What are your thoughts and feelings about this step in your priesthood formation of being ordained to the diaconate?
A: A vocation to the priesthood is beautiful. It is a gift that comes from God. Jesus said, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you” (Jn 15:7).  It was not my initiative to be a priest but God’s. I ask God to help me to be an instrument in his hands and to work in his field, which is so large—and there is much to do. But I trust in him.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add?
A: I ask people to pray for an increase of vocations in the Church.

Name: Lee Soo Ho Damian
Age: 29
Born and reared: Korea
Seminary: St. John Vianney

Q:  Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A:  I am not an extraordinary person. I attended school as a person regularly would and now I am studying for the Church in the seminary.
 
Q: When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: It is very hard to say exactly when I first felt called to the priesthood. Probably at the start of my teens. I feel called as I am writing this. I will pray for my priestly vocation until death.

Q: What has been your favorite class or aspect of seminary life?
A:  I cannot pick one. I am thankful for the entire seminary experience.
 
Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: All of my time is. Jesus makes nothing to be everything to me.

Q: What are your thoughts and feelings about this step in your priesthood formation of being ordained to the diaconate?
A: God’s grace is real.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add?
A: Please pray for vocations in the Church.

Name:  Mauricio  Bermudez-Hernandez
Age: 29
Born and reared: Puebla, Mexico
Seminary: St. John Vianney

Q: Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: I studied my whole life in Catholic schools. I went to Universidad Popular Autonoma de Puebla in Puebla, Mexico, where I got my bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 2003.

Q:  When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: I had the desire to be a priest when I was in middle school. At that time I was a member of a missionary group that served the poor in my home town. But it wasn’t until high school that I discerned the priestly vocation. I joined a religious community called Cruzados de Cristo Rey (Crusaders of Christ the King). I was there for six years until I left to come to Denver to be a diocesan priest.

Q: What has been your favorite class or aspect of seminary life?
A: My favorite classes are the ones about sacraments and liturgy. I love participating in the sacraments, especially in the sacrifice of the holy Eucharist.

Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: To watch movies and spend time with my friends.

Q:  What are your thoughts and feelings about this step in your priesthood formation of being ordained to the diaconate?
A: I am thankful to God for all the graces I have received, but especially I’m thankful for my vocation. I’m so excited to be a deacon, and soon a priest, to serve the Church!

Q: Is there anything you would like to add?
A: Please pray for us, so we can be humble servants of the Lord.

Full Name: Carlos Wilson Bello Ayala
Age: 36
Born and reared: Bogota, Colombia
Seminary: Redemptoris Mater

Q: Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: I did my primary studies in a public school. When I was 12, I entered a Catholic Salesian school, the Don Bosco Center, where along with the regular studies of high school and basic lessons on the faith, I also got some technical knowledge in carpentry. When I was 18, my attention turned to sciences and I went to a public university where I studied for five years and got a degree in chemistry as a teacher. I taught chemistry to high school students in preparation for the state exam in my country; it was short term because I then immediately entered a pre-seminary group.

Q: When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: I never considered the possibility of being a priest until I began to participate in the Neocatechumenal Way. Al-though I was raised in a Catholic family and studied some years in a Catholic school, I left the Church once I started my professional education. When I got my degree, I found my life was meaningless. In the middle of that frustration, my parents invited me to go to the Church. It was in the catecheses of the Neocatechu-menal Way that I rediscovered the treasures of my baptism and my way of seeing life turned to a different direction. After three and a half years of meeting regularly with my community, I began to consider that the Lord was perhaps calling me to a vocation that I had never expected. Then, in a retreat with my community, after an exhortation and appeal from my catechists for vocations, I stood up, offering myself as an instrument of the Lord for the evangelization. After that, I started to meet in a vocational group led by a priest in town for six months. I was then chosen to go to a special retreat in Medellin, where there is a Redemptoris Mater Seminary. There I was asked again if I was willing to go to any part of the world to evangelize. My answer was yes and I was sent to the seminary here in Denver.

Q: What has been your favorite class or aspect of seminary life?
A: My favorite aspect has been the life of the seminary itself. Although there have been difficult moments, I have learned a new way of life. I have experienced the importance of having genuine Christian relationships, that is, communion among brothers, formators and teachers. All the aspects of the seminary such as prayer, studies, physical works, and others, have provided me with tools for my ministry. Something that I will take with me is this Christian way of life that I learned at Redemptoris Mater.

Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: I like many sports; soccer is my favorite. Woodworking and other manual works I find enjoyable, too, as well as spiritual reading, primarily the lives of the saints.

Q: What are your thoughts and feelings about this step in your priesthood formation of being ordained to the diaconate?
A: I think this step is very serious. The Lord has shown me with much patience that he has prepared me for this not only from the time I entered the seminary but also from the moment I was conceived. To have this enlightenment has given me a lot of peace. I understand my life as a whole design of God; a plan of salvation.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add?
A: At this moment of my life, I see that all the struggles and difficulties of the past were meaningful and important. Those experiences of doubts and suffering are beginning to bear fruit; they are being transformed for my ministry in the near future.

Name: José de Jesús García Pedreguera
Age: 34
Born: Orizaba, Veracruz, México
Seminary: Redemptoris Mater

Q: Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: Degree in pharmacy, Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico, 1996.
 
Q: When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: I discovered my vocation to the priesthood in the Catholic Church in a Christian community called the Neocatechumenal Way. I felt this call in 1993, in a meeting with all the youths of the Neocatechumenal Way in Mexico. This was in preparation for World Youth Day in Denver with the Holy Father John Paul II in 1993. But I did not answer the Lord, because I had other plans for my life, and I was full of fears. However, the Lord through this community pursued me, and in 1997 when the Holy Father John Paul II came to Mexico, I heard him saying “Do not be afraid to open your heart to Christ.” I could not say no to the call of God and the need to give my life for the announcement of the Gospel. So I decided to follow the Lord.

Q: What has been your favorite class or aspect of seminary life?
A: My favorite subjects have been those on the Scriptures and sacraments.

Q: What is your favorite past time?
A: Playing soccer and listening to music.

Q: What are your thoughts and feelings about this step in your priesthood formation of being ordained to the diaconate?
A: I think it is a time of grace; I am very happy. I see that the Lord is faithful in all his promises. I hope, with the help of God, to help with the evangelization in Colorado, where the Lord has sent me.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add?
A: I want to give thanks to my parents for my life and my faith; to Archbishop Chaput for his steadfast support and his prayers; to the professors at the institute for their constant sharing of their knowledge; and to the brothers and sisters of my communities in Mexico (San Felipe Neri Parish) and in Denver (St. Thomas More Parish) for their prayers during this time of formation. 

Name:  Joseph Toledo
Age: 28
Born and reared: Bridgeport, Conn.
Seminary: Redemptoris Mater

Q: Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: I graduated from Kolbe Cathedral High School in Bridgeport, Conn.,  in June 1999 and entered the seminary in September 1999. 

Q: When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: I first felt the call to the priesthood at World Youth Day, which was held in Denver in 1993, when I was 13.  Hearing this call, I found myself very fearful and thought that I was too young.  But even with this doubt, what caught my attention was that John Paul the Great kept saying, “Do not be afraid.” At first I did not understand this but over the next few years God, little by little, helped me to see what he meant.  Two years later, at a Youth Day in Loreto, Italy, the pope repeated the same words and at that moment I understood that I was afraid to give my life to God.  I am part of an itinerary of Christian formation in the Church called the Neocatechumenal Way and at that youth day Kiko Arguello, the initiator of the Way, called for vocations.  When he made this call, I found my head telling me that I was crazy but I found my body moving forward to receive a blessing.  This experience, even though I was only 15, was very important for my life because it was the beginning of this call to the vocation.  I went through a period of pre-seminary where men from these vocational calls get together to discuss their hardships and I saw that God was confirming my call.  I was then sent to Redemptoris Mater in Denver and I see now that God confirms my vocation everyday.

Q: What is your favorite class or aspect of seminary life?
A: My favorite classes are on biblical studies from the Pentateuch to St. Paul.  All the professors of Scripture have an amazing fire and love for the Bible.

Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: Walking around the John Paul II Center is one of my favorite pastimes.  I also like to play volleyball, basketball and a little soccer.

Q: What are your thoughts and feelings about this step in your priesthood formation of being ordained to the diaconate?
A: My first thought was astonishment that even though I have many weaknesses, God can still use me for his great mission of announcing the Gospel to this generation.  I was very happy when I was told that I would be moving forward to sacred orders.  For me, God is showing me the great love and fidelity that he has for my life.

Q: Is their anything you would like to add?
A: I would like to thank the Church of Denver for the many years of formation through Redemptoris Mater.  I would also like to thank everyone who prayed for me, my family and Neocatechumenal communities both in Bridgeport and Denver.  I would also ask everyone for their continued prayers as I prepare this year to be ordained a priest.