On a jewel of a day, with Christ Cathedral glittering in the morning sun, six new priests became the first class to be ordained at the flagship cathedral for the Diocese of Orange.
A packed church enthusiastically greeted the new ordinands, whose Saturday, July 27 entrance into the priesthood was delayed so they could be properly welcomed at the new cathedral, which was dedicated just 10 days earlier.
Erialdo Ramirez Alfaro, Scott Allen, Michael Nguyen, Daniel Seo, Joseph Squillacioti and Martin Vu represent the largest incoming group in recent years.
Of the six incoming priests, three were assigned as parochial vicars to local parishes where they had already begun their assignments. Alfaro, 29, is serving at St. Cecilia Church, Tustin; Vu, 29, is with Santiago de Compostela Church, Lake Forest; and Seo, 29, is at Holy Family parish in Orange, where he celebrated a morning mass the day after his ordination.
Allen, 34, Nguyen, 28, and Squillacioti, 43, return to Rome, where they will undertake postgraduate studies. Allen is attending the Pontifical North American College, where he will concentrate on Thomistic studies, or the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas. Nguyen will continue in canon law at Casa Santa Maria, and Squillacioti will also attend Casa Santa Maria, where he is pursuing advanced classes in liturgical studies.
Full story at OC Catholic.
I have to wonder why all the advanced studies in Rome. That must total mucho $$$. How many Orange Diocese priests are in these advanced studies??
Same thing crossed my mind, especially for newly minted priests in a diocese that surely needs them to pastor souls.
OC is trying too hard to pump the new cathedral. Flagship cathedral? Give me a break.
Agreed.
I wondered what a “flagship” Cathedral is.
I hope that big, glass, angular, defunct Protestant buildings isn’t it.
God bless these men in their ministries and life in Christ!
What kind of priests? Today, the Church’s institutional destruction has been caused by intolerance to what Christ, and His Church, taught. The NewChurch has often created NewPriests that simply do not know much about, or believe, in the Real Presence, the evil of homosexual sex, the importance of the entire Church’s history, not just since VII. Pray for these men.
Those who defend the Church, as I often do here, are often attacked just as Trump is often attacked by the progressive leftists who hate America. Those who only see the imperfections of the Church simply have no love for the Church, for God’s people, as Christ the Bridegroom loves her. People, love the traditional institutions of our society: love America, love the Church–because they are being attacked and trashed just as “SC” routinely attacks the Church here. If you don’t like the Church, “get out” (thank you Donald Trump!).