Diocese celebrates ordinations

Friday, Jul. 04, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — The Diocese of Salt Lake City gathered June 28 in the Cathedral of the Madeleine for The Rite of Ordination of Deacons and of Priests by the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City. 

Deacon Jorge Roldán was ordained a priest for the diocese; seminarians Joseph Delka and David Trujillo were ordained transitional deacons. Both are preparing for the priesthood.

Bishop Wester presided at the Mass, which was concelebrated by Monsignor Colin F. Bircumshaw, vicar general; Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general emeritus; Monsignor Alejandro Tinoco of the Diocese of Tlalnepantla, Mexico, who was one of Father Roldán’s seminary teachers; Father Martin Diaz, pastor of the Cathedral of the Madeleine; and other priests of the diocese.

In his homily, Bishop Wester told the three men who were to be ordained that the second reading, 1 Peter 4:7-11, contained good advice for them: “Remain calm so you will be able to pray.” 

Human beings crave friendship, the bishop added, but their most important friendship is with God, so the day’s Gospel, John 15:9-17, “is truly good news, as we hear Jesus say, ‘You are my friends.’ 

“Jorge, David, Joseph, you have been called by Christ to holy orders,” the bishop continued. “Today this local Church rejoices with you. We rejoice that you have been called from among God’s people to serve God’s people, but never forget that first and foremost you are called friend.”

As a priest, Fr. Roldán will proclaim the Word of God, “but that word will risk being nothing more than an echo of your own ego if it is not rooted in your friendship with Jesus Christ,” the bishop said. “As First Peter reminds you, the one who speaks is to deliver God’s message.”

As transitional deacons, Delka and Trujillo “are ordained to serve, but that service will risk being nothing more than a bid for future favors if not rooted in your friendship with Jesus Christ,” the bishop added. “Again, Peter reminds you that the one who serves is to do it with the strength provided by God. Thus, in all of you, God is to be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

Although the first reading of the Mass, Numbers 3:5-9, underscored that the three men being ordained have been set aside from the people as dedicated to God, “for your word and your service to be effective, you must also be one with the people of God,” Bishop Wester said. “This is also your call, my brothers, to follow Christ’s example and be one with the people, the Body of Christ. An integral part of your love for Christ is your love for the people. You are called from among the people of God to serve them.”

He urged the three men to let the light of Christ shine in them. “You are called, my brothers, to a joy-filled and joyful ministry. In the Gospel Jesus says it clearly: ‘All this I tell you that my joy may be yours and your joy may be complete.’ Giving of yourself completely for Christ and for others, spending hours in prayer, serving the needs of your people, going the extra mile, turning the other cheek, even laying down your life for your friends will bring incomparable joy because you are fulfilling the very reason of your existence, unity with God. Our prayer for you today is that your joy will be complete and that, through that joy, you will attract many others to follow Jesus and some to follow in your footsteps to the highest shrine of love divine.”

Bishop Wester also gave thanks to the men’s parents, their families, their parish families, seminaries, brother priests and deacons, the lay faithful, and all who have helped to form them into the heart of Christ. “It is through these various seminaries that, as John of the Cross would say, the love of Jesus so tenderly becomes your own,” he said.

For the three men, the Mass was a celebration filled with a variety of emotions. 

“I was praying the entire time,” said Deacon Trujillo. His prayers were of thanksgiving, but also “that I wouldn’t drop anything,” he said.

Immediately after the Mass, he was unable to pinpoint one particular moment of the celebration that stood out, saying that everything was special. However, he said he was pleased and eternally grateful that Monsignor Matthew Wixted was able to vest him with the transitional deacon’s stole, because the priest was present at the beginning of Deacon Trujillo’s call to ministry, and taught him “how to walk with the people” as a hospital chaplain.

For Deacon Delka, being vested with the stole and the laying on of hands were particularly momentous. “You’re kneeling there, and the bishop’s hands hit your head, and that’s the moment right there, that’s the moment that it happens,” he said. “It’s hard to describe. It’s really incredible. Suddenly I’m wearing vestments, and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m a deacon now!’ … It’s incredible to realize that this is real; this is what has happened; I’ve been called by God to do this. In a sense it’s a big confirmation of what I’ve been doing for the last five years in the seminary, but even beyond that, when I first started discerning the vocation.”

Even the next day, the reality of his ordination had scarcely sunk in with Fr. Roldán. He concelebrated the June 29 Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, where he  had lived while studying English at the University of Utah, and he was still emotional, he said. During the consecration, as he stood behind the altar, he thought, “Really? I am here?,” he said. “I am very happy and thrilled for my ordination and I want to let everyone know that I am here to serve them, and I will always try my best.”

IC reporter Laura Vallejo contributed to this story.