For Father Joseph Cruz, the emotions hit while prostrating before the altar. For Father Quoc Vo, it was while being vested with his stole and chasuble.
For Father Allan Carodan, the whole experience was poignant.
“From the moment we walk down the aisle, the procession, everything is a very gracious thing that I’ve had the profound experience with walking with the Lord,” Carodan said.
Only moments after the ordination Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on May 31 to celebrate eight men — Carodan, Cruz, Vo, along with Father Paul Collins, Father Michael Croghan, Father Johndy Gonzales, Father Jorge Moncada, and Father Christian Morquecho — entering the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the newly ordained were still processing their feelings.
Following the Mass, their emotions ran the gamut, from relief to excitement to being hot and thirsty on an 84-degree day in Southern California.
“When they vested me, I almost cried,” Vo said. “I tried to keep it inside at that moment. When my tears came out, it’s when I gave the first blessing to my parents.”
Vo couldn’t quite pinpoint what was making him so emotional.
“Maybe it was the Holy Spirit,” he said. “I know that the Holy Spirit is on me, and that’s a great blessing for me and for my family.”
If the eight men were emotional, they didn’t show it at first. The Mass began with the soon-to-be priests processing down the aisle, mostly solemn-faced, with only Vo bringing up the rear with a smile. Several hundred priests came in behind them, followed by bishops and Archbishop José H. Gomez.
In his homily, Archbishop Gomez called the ordination “a sign of God’s love for his people” and prayed for the newly ordained men to also feel the love of God for them.
“These eight men that we ordain today have heard the Lord’s voice and answered his call,” Archbishop Gomez said. “They have left behind their old lives to follow him and to be fathers and priests for his people.
“My brothers, like St. Augustine, like St. Paul, like every priest before you: you can choose Jesus today, because he has chosen you first. You can love, because Jesus has loved you first.”
Archbishop Gomez also invoked the newly elected Pope Leo XIV, who was a missionary in Peru for many years with the Augustinians. Gomez told the eight men to let that missionary spirit guide their priesthood.
“You are the open arms of the Church, my brothers,” Archbishop Gomez said. “You are here to bring the love of Jesus to people, not only at the altar and in the pulpit, not only in the confessional and in your parish duties.
“You are called to open wide the doors of your churches and to go out and bring Jesus to your neighbors, to their families, to their children, to the poor and the lost.”
During the Rite of Ordination, the eight men prostrated themselves face-down in a circle around the altar as those in pews sang the Litany of Saints, invoking heavenly intercession for the men.
Trying to hold in his emotions, that’s when Cruz truly felt overwhelmed by the moment.
“You just feel everyone’s prayers penetrating,” he said. “God always knows better.
“It was nice to sort of feel that divine overwhelm because in that overwhelm it’s sort of like an embrace as well.”
After the eight knelt in front of the altar while every priest, one by one, laid their hands on them, they received their stoles and chasubles.
Finally, the men received a kiss of peace from Archbishop Gomez first, followed by the bishops and priests in attendance. Whereas their chairs were off to the side previously, they now sat among their now-brother priests. The men received another standing ovation.
Toward the end of the Mass, the newly ordained priests offered blessings to the bishops and then to their families and loved ones sitting in the pews.
That moment hit true for Morquecho, who embraced his mother and father before giving the blessing.
“They’re so supportive of my whole life, and especially in seminary,” Morquecho said. “It’s just one of those moments as a son I could give back to them.”
As the Mass wound down, Archbishop Gomez thanked the families, loved ones, and formators for their role in guiding the eight men, and gently chided the new priests that they were ready for work.
“I think you have your faculties. Now you need to start working,” Archbishop Gomez joked.
Outside, while many waited in line to receive first blessings from the new priests, emotions continued to flow, especially among those who know them best.
“We feel very blessed for saying yes to the Lord,” said Gonzales’ mother, Cresilva, who stood next to her husband, Zaldy.
Croghan’s mother, Lilia, fought back tears as she recalled praying for her son to “find his way” and now seeing him offering blessings to the bishops during the Mass.
“This is very spiritual,” she said. “This is something that you just feel inside. How can you describe something you’ve never experienced in your whole life?”
Seeing her son become a priest has intensified her faith and made her want to become a mother modeled after the Virgin Mary.
“I want to be the mother of a priest,” Lilia Croghan said. “I want to be like our Blessed Mother. I want to be strong for him.
“It’s opened up a whole different mindset for me, like my heart is open to things that I never experienced.”
Lina Bruce, a catechist at Holy Trinity Church in Atwater Village, was in line for Father Vo, whom she knew while he was still a seminarian and helping at the parish, especially in religious education.
“We had very good feedback from the people,” Bruce said. “He’s very kind, very supportive. He’s very involved in our ministry. He’s always there when we need him. So he’s a very good one.”
Christopher and Natalie Ruiz, parishioners at St. Gertrude the Great Church in Bell Gardens, were in line for Father Collins, whom they said they met when he used to take the Eucharist to her bedridden great-grandfather.
“He has that servant heart,” Natalie Ruiz said. “He just wants to help people, and he tries to do anything to make that person happy. And he has that lending ear to just hear you talk. So I think he will be a good priest.”
Father Morquecho’s mother, Kelly, knows she’s biased, but couldn’t help some proud bragging.
“He’s going to be the best priest in LA, trust me,” she said. “I already know it. I hear him preach. I watch him, I see how the people have been drawn to him. He has such an easygoing demeanor, yet he’s so full of joy."
