Our priests at Holy Trinity are diocesan priests. A commonly asked question of diocesan priests is, “What order are you in?” Well, the answer is that diocesan priests are not in an order.  A priest is either a diocesan priest or a religious (in an order). Still confused?

Diocesan priests report directly to the bishop of the diocese. (Our bishop is Cardinal Roger Mahony). Diocesan priests would normally serve their entire lives in their diocese and never serve elsewhere. Diocesan priests typically serve as parish priests.  However, a few are called to serve as chaplains, campus ministers, teachers and in diocesan administration. Diocesan priests take promises at ordination of celibacy and obedience. They do not take a vow of poverty; however, they are expected to live lives of relative simplicity.

Priests who are in an order (“religious”) typically live in community and report to the head of their order.  They typically take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They can be sent wherever their order serves (San Jose, New York, Kenya, etc.). They typically live out the charism of their order. For example, Jesuits normally serve as teachers or they serve in the missions. However, there are parishes that are run by religious order priests. There are a few parishes run by Jesuits. St. Peter’s in San Pedro is run by an order of Italian priests. These priests are serving as parish priests but normally, typically, they would serve, living out the particular charism of their order.

WHAT DOES A DIOCESAN PRIEST DO?
The Ministry of each priest depends somewhat upon his particular interests and skills and the needs of the diocese. A diocesan priest spends much of his time preparing for and celebrating the sacraments (Eucharist, Reconciliation, Baptism, Marriage, Sacrament of the Sick, Confirmation).  Each day some time is set aside for personal, private prayer. Visiting the sick, visiting people in their homes and working with the various parish and neighborhood organizations are all part of his ministry.  The parish priest must also be available to people when they have special needs. He is also a spiritual leader in the community. Along with his parishioners, he addresses issues that touch all members of the community, particularly those who are abandoned and forgotten. He is frequently involved in individual counseling (marriage problems, parent-teenager problems, drug problems or just life in general).

WHO CAN BECOME A DIOCESAN PRIEST?
A single man with average intelligence, emotional stability, good health and sincere interest in serving God's people may qualify for the priesthood. He must have a sincere interest in people and a true love of the Roman Catholic Church and its teachings, as outlined by the Second Vatican Council and subsequent official Church documents. He should also be a person who is generous and looking for the challenge that comes in following the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.

Priestly vocations are the proof and, at the same time, the condition of the vitality of the Church . . . Hence springs the

indispensable need of the presence of the ordained minister, who is able, precisely, to celebrate the Eucharist.


-Pope John Paul II, May 10, 1981

As Pope John Paul II noted:
“… What in people’s eyes can seem a waste is, for the individuals captivated in the depths of their heart by the beauty and goodness of the Lord, an obvious response of love, a joyful expression of gratitude for having been admitted in a
unique way to the knowledge of the Son and to a sharing in His divine mission in the world.." Consecrated Life, 104

"In the different forms of life inspired by the Spirit throughout history, consecrated persons discover that the more they stand at the foot of the cross of Christ, the more immediately and profoundly they experience the truth of God who is love." Consecrated Life, 24

A religious order is an organization of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with religious devotion. The members of such orders, termed religious as a group, are usually distinct from both the laity and the clergy. They are often termed monks, friars or brothers if male, and nuns or  sisters if female. Not all members of a religious order are clergy, and there may be lay members who have sworn an oath to the order or taken vows such as vows of poverty.

“A Carmelite is a soul who has gazed on the Crucified One … and has wanted to give herself as He did.” - Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity Some orders practice literal isolation (cloistering) from the outside world; others remain engaged with the world in various ways, often teaching or serving in traditional roles, while maintaining their distinction in other ways (communal living, producing religious artwork and texts, designing and making vestments and writing  religious instruction books as examples). Some serve as canon lawyers or in diocesan administration.  Some religious are theologians and prolific writers. Some serve the poor and beg for  alms. All, however, may be distinguished by vows or disciplines they undertake as members of their orders.

Those sisters, brothers and priests who belong to an order are typically eferred to as “religious”. They live out in a special way what is termed the consecrated life.   They typically live in community. Living in community, they would eat together, pray together and celebrate Mass together.

"…Those who have been given the priceless gift of following the Lord Jesus more closely consider it obvious that he can and must be loved with an undivided heart, that one can devote to him one's whole life, and not merely certain actions or occasional moments or activities.…From such a life "poured out" without reserve there spreads a fragrance which fills the whole house. The house of God, the Church, today no less than in the past, is adorned and enriched by the presence of the consecrated life." Pope John Paul II, Consecrated Life, 104

By Cardinal Roger M. Mahony  
To the People of God of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles:

What would your reaction be if on some Sunday you arrived at your Parish Church for Mass, and found a sign on the door that read: "There will not be a 9:30 a.m. Mass today in our parish since we have no Priest to offer the Mass"? That day has arrived for many Arch/Dioceses across the country, and it appears to be rapidly approaching for us as well.

This coming July, 22 parishes will need new pastors (11 pastors are retiring, four are not taking another pastorate: net loss of 15 pastors). But we are only ordaining five new Priests this year. Where will we find 22 new pastors? Where will we find new associate pastors to take the places of those associates being appointed administrators or pastors in July? I use the expression "we" since this is our collective challenge, not just mine as your Archbishop.

The accompanying chart demonstrates most vividly the very serious shortage of Priests that we are facing. Assuming that all of our Priests will be able to serve until age 75 (a most generous assumption that does not take into account health problems or other disabilities), and knowing that we have 289 active parishes, between the years 2011 and 2015 we will actually have fewer Priests than we have parishes. It is also likely that we will ordain only four new Priests a year. It would be so helpful if we could exceed this number, but we cannot count on that.

We are blessed to have Religious Community Priests staffing 69 parishes, but the Religious themselves are facing the same shortages as we are, and many will simply be unable to continue their commitments in the Archdiocese in future years.

Unlike Arch/Dioceses in the mid-West and East, we do not have "surplus parishes" without parishioners. We actually have the opposite challenge: a great many of our Churches are already too small to accommodate the numbers of Catholics participating in Sunday Eucharist.

The fact is that the Catholic population of our Archdiocese continues to grow year after year, and we will need to open new parishes in the coming years in the Santa Clarita Valley, the Antelope Valley, and very likely in the northern part of the Archdiocese.

Our recent Archdiocesan Synod called all of us to be open to the Holy Spirit and to move where the Spirit is leading us. We have begun to respond by supporting the development of Pastoral Associates and Parish Life Directors. We will surely need to collaborate more fully among parish communities, to share all our resources in creative ways, and to make certain that our Eucharistic Church continues forward with vigor and confidence. To do so, we need more priests to make certain that the Eucharist is celebrated on Sundays with the full, active, and conscious participation of the People of God.

Consequently, every Catholic in our Archdiocese must realize that he or she is, in a genuine sense, a "vocation promoter." There are several things that all of us can readily do to promote vocations to the Priesthood, the Diaconate and Religious Life, and I invite you to become engaged in helping to meet our challenge. Some suggestions:

-Parishioners need to talk among themselves - both informally and at various parish gatherings - about this looming shortage, and take responsibility for making certain that the Eucharist and the Sacraments can be celebrated in the future to sustain our Catholic spiritual life. Communion Services are an inadequate substitute for the full celebration of the Eucharist in our parishes.

-All of us can pray for an increase in vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life: "Jesus said to them, 'The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest'" (Luke 10:2). Special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament would be a most appropriate means to pray for more vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life.

-All of us can be alert to young men and women in our parishes whom we believe have those qualities and gifts to serve the Church as Priests and Religious. We need to speak to them, to ask them if they think God might be calling them to give their lives in service as Priest or Religious. I have found that many young people are thinking about this possibility, but no one ever suggests it or invites them.

-We need to pray for, support and encourage the Priests and Religious who serve us in our parishes with such evident dedication and energy, especially since they are fewer in number and individually carry so many more pastoral responsibilities than ever before. The best affirmation of our Priests and Religious is through generous collaboration in the ministry and responsibility of the Church and of the parish.

-Parents need to be generous in encouraging their own sons and daughters to consider whether God is calling them to serve Christ and His Church in this way. The affirmation of parents to the early seeds of a vocation to the Priesthood or Religious Life is so crucial.

You and I bear a mutual responsibility for the Local Church of Los Angeles, this portion of the Lord's Vineyard. As the Synod process taught us all, we move forward as members of the Body of Christ together, not alone or in isolation. Let us keep alive the hope engendered by the Synod as we pray together for an increase in vocations:

Good and gracious God,

you have called us through Baptism

to discipleship with your Son, Jesus Christ,

and have sent us to bring the Good News of

Salvation to all peoples.

We pray you to grant us more Priests and Religious

to build up your Church here within the

Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Inspire our young men and women by the example of

Blessed Junípero Serra to give themselves totally

to the work of Christ and His Church.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen.

Ryan-Joseph Resurrección

Seminarian in residence for the month of July

Being one of the greatest athletes, the smartest person in the state of California with the understanding of King Solomon, a skilled and proficient musician, and voted most likely to succeed in seminary are some of the things I HAVE NOT achieved in this lifetime.  What I HAVE been granted is the grace of a vocation that calls many but chooses few.  My name is Ryan-Joseph Resurrección and I am a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles studying at Mt. Angel Seminary in Oregon.  As many of you have heard about my age, that’s correct, I am 19 and the youngest of two boys born to two loving parents, Roberto and Evelia Resurrección.  I grew up in Eagle Rock, CA and attended St. Dominic’s Elementary School.  Following that I graduated with honors at Cathedral High School in Los Angeles.  I will be entering my third year of Philosophy at Mt. Angel Seminary this fall.  I continue to pray and rely on the grace of God and the generosity and prayers of people like you to keep me strong in my vocation and resolve to the Roman Catholic priesthood.

Many people tell me, “You are so young, why did you want to be a priest at so young of an age?” but the fact remains that I am still, with God’s grace, discerning where and why He is calling me.  My vocation was quickly put on the back burner.  I mean what kind of a kid thinks about wanting to be a priest when the rest of his classmates are thinking about being doctors, police officers, teachers…robots and Power Rangers.  As a result while the thought of priesthood was still there, I also had thoughts of becoming a teacher, lawyer, or doctor, but as I grew older the call to the priesthood became louder.  I went to Cathedral High School in Los Angeles, under the guidance of the DeLaSalle Christian Brothers, the call to do something with my life that was meaningful became more evident.  I saw in these religious brothers, men who were willing to give of their lives to their students, to educate them and bring them up in the Christian spirit.  I also wanted to do that but not only as a teacher, but also as a father.  I went on service projects such as feeding the homeless, tutoring kids, helping out at the bookstore, etc. and retreats for vocation and it began to develop my own vocation.  I wanted to help people and so I felt called to help people as either a priest or religious.  While friends at my high school wondered if I was sane and frequently reminded me, “You’re going to miss out on the girls and drinking in college,” I realized there’s something deeper in life than what the superficial society poses to us.  As

senior class president I was involved in many aspects of the school governance and yet the call to the priesthood still reached me there.  As my high school years came to its close, I, like my fellow classmates applied to various colleges, being accepted to all of the colleges I applied to such as UCLA, UC Riverside, and St. Mary’s to name a few, yet the opening to apply to the archdiocese as a seminarian was an option that I also took and ended up taking.

As I began my seminary career at Mt. Angel Seminary in the fall of 2003 it was an awkward experience to what I was used to.  I’m a Southern California boy, I’m used to the sun and the noise of the city, and when you put me in a place where there is little sun and a lot of green, THAT’S different.  I remember my first night at the seminary, not being able to sleep, and not because of homesickness, but because the frogs wouldn’t stop ribbeting.  Little did I know that the seminary community would grow on me and I would learn to love it!  The brotherhoods formed at the seminary are ones that I was used to from high school and ones that are aimed at the same objective, to one day be able to serve Christ and His Church as a Roman Catholic Priest.  Yes, getting used to the schedule of things was at first hard but manageable.  This fall, I will be entering my third year at the seminary to continue my formation to be a Roman Catholic Priest and to be formed after the heart of Christ.  In the year ahead I will be continuing in the pursuit of my bachelors in philosophy and at the same time since last year’s college elections, chairing the college spiritual life.   Seminary life is one that takes a lot of balance in spiritual, pastoral, academic, and most importantly human formation.  Life in the seminary has developed my vocation and reason for wanting to be a priest from the all too common “helping people” to rather changing and impacting people’s lives one person at a time.  For it is at the hands of a priest that one receives absolution and forgiveness, consolation and friendship, marriage and anointing, baptism and counseling, and most importantly it is through the hands of a priest that people’s lives are changed by that of Christ in the Eucharist.  While the task and the “road to Calvary” is long and rigorous I am comforted by the prayers and support of my family, friends, and wonderful people in awesome parishes like Holy Trinity.

One can easily ask, “What can a seminarian like you do for just a month in a parish?”  The reality is this month in the parish helps me in my ongoing formation and training to be a priest in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.  The reality is that I come from a parish that is run by a religious order and therefore this experience exposes me to the realities 
of the diocesan spirituality and the diocesan priests’ life.  It is my hope to meet as many kind people of the parish during my month here and “learn the ropes” of parish life.  Granted, there are many people, things, and components that go into a parish but the more exposure and the more experience, the more I will be able to learn and pattern my priesthood after that of Christ and efficiently administer to the people’s needs.

I’m grateful to God for being assigned and having the opportunity to be here at Holy Trinity, San Pedro.  I’m grateful in a special way to my three wonderful mentors and teachers Frs. Joe, Rolly, and Jim, to the staff and personnel of Holy Trinity for accommodating me in this summer assignment.  I know I will enjoy and learn in this experience and I hope sincerely that I will be allowed to come back whether it be on another summer assignment or God-willing as a priest.  Please keep me in your prayers, as this parish will be in mine.  I close with a reflection on priests and those who aspire to be future priests by Fr. Henri Lacordaire, OP:

To live in the midst of the world without wishing its pleasures; to be a member of each family, yet belonging to none; to share all sufferings; to penetrate all secrets; to heal all wounds; to go from men to God and offer Him their prayers; to return from God to men to bring pardon and hope; to have a heart of fire for charity and a heart of bronze for chastity; to teach and to pardon; console and bless always. My God, what a life! And it is yours, O Priest of Jesus Christ

As some of you may be aware from reading The Tidings, Cardinal Mahony has declared this year (November 1, 2005 – October 31, 2006) a Year of Prayer for Priestly Vocations. He has asked the priests to be especially diligent in helping the people of God of Los Angeles to be aware of the severity of the priest shortage here in our archdiocese. I don’t have any claims on the mind of God and I do not intend to scare anyone, but I do know that the following scenario could be a potential reality: 10 years from now, there could possibly be only 1 priest at Holy Trinity.

We must not be alarmed. Our God is a God of abundance. We believe that He will truly answer our prayers and that our needs will be met. We certainly anticipate and hope for strong lay involvement in all of our parishes. The parishes do not “belong” to the priests. Regardless of how much lay involvement we are blessed with, the reality is that we are a sacramental church. This is one factor that differentiates us from other faiths. The sacraments are essential for our spiritual well-being. Consequently, regardless of the model of the church or the parish that we have or that we desire, we truly need the ordained to serve the faithful. Thus, we are really stepping up our prayers for vocations to the priesthood.

Beginning on November 1, we, at Holy Trinity, will be praying a special prayer that the Cardinal has given to us to pray each time we celebrate the Eucharist. It will be provided on card stock and be kept in the pews for daily usage. We also anticipate weekly petitions that will come from the archdiocese along with a weekly prayer to appear in our bulletin. We appreciate all of your prayers, love, support, kindness and generosity. It simply makes our service to you that much more rewarding.  God Bless us all with an abundance of healthy, holy, dedicated and balanced (and fun!) men of prayer, willing to serve in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Father Jim