Five new priests, reflecting a diversity of ages, cultural backgrounds and work experience, will be ordained for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles June 5 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
Fathers Robert Patrick Fulton, James Halley, Francis Aytona Mendoza and Rodolfo Prado -- all of whom have completed their theologate formation at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo -- will be ordained by Cardinal Roger Mahony at the Cathedral, along with Father Artur Gruszka who completed his seminary formation in Michigan.
The new priests will begin their first assignments as associate pastors on July 1. Following are brief profiles of the new priests:
Father Robert Patrick Fulton, 54, is a native of Philadelphia, the son of Mary and the late Charles Fulton. He attended St. Mary's Elementary School and Lancaster Catholic High School, both in Lancaster, Pa.; earned a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania; and worked for some years as a certified public accountant.
"I am a late vocation," he noted. "In high school I felt a call to be a priest, but did not follow through." After much discernment, in his late 30s he joined the Missionary Brothers of Charity in Los Angeles, where, "although I was very satisfied being a brother, I felt a 'call within a call.' I felt I was being called to be a servant/leader to the people of God, both in celebrating the sacraments and pastorally. My main desire is to be of service to the people of God."
Father Fulton's home parishes are Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Lancaster, Pa., and Our Lady of Guadalupe Church (Hammel Street) in East Los Angeles. He served his transitional diaconate at Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Genevieve Church in Panorama City, and has been assigned to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Montebello.
Father Artur Gruszka, 29, was born Oct. 20, 1974 in Glogow, Poland, the son of Teresa and Franciszek Gruszka. He attended public high school in Glogow, and for three years studied law at the University of Szczecin, Poland.
He then studied philosophy for two years at Metropolitan Seminary in Wroclaw, Poland; completed his Master of Divinity at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan; and earned a Master of Arts in Religious Studies from the University of Detroit Mercy in Michigan.
"All the reasons for me becoming a priest come down to the one and fundamental reason --- namely, that I believe God is calling me to serve Him as a priest," he said. "In my life, I have met many priests who have inspired me to think about the priesthood, but it is ultimately the desire to do God's will, not my own, that makes me follow the path to the sacramental priesthood."
Father Gruszka served as a transitional deacon at St. Valentine Church, in Redford, Mich. His first Mass will be celebrated June 6, 11 a.m. at his adopted home parish, St. Genevieve in Panorama City. He has been assigned to St. John Fisher Church in Rancho Palos Verdes.
Father James Halley, 52, was born in Winthrop, Mass. He attended St. Mary of the Annunciation Elementary School in Danvers, St. Peter's High School in Gloucester, and earned a bachelor of arts in Theology at Regent's College, Albany, N.Y.
He then earned advanced degrees in Spiritual Theology from Holy Names University in Oakland, and the Graduate Theological Foundation in South Bend, Ind. He was ordained a permanent deacon for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1990, and later became a member of the Friars of the Sick Poor, a diocesan religious community within the archdiocese, working with the sick and poor in hospital ministry.
"The reason for our community," he explained, "is to help those who suffer, to find that there is redemptive meaning in it, that the very love of Christ is present in their suffering, and that Christ's love will help them through their suffering."
He has served as a transitional deacon at St. Matthew Church, Long Beach. As part of a diocesan religious community, he will be incardinated in the L.A. Archdiocese and will serve as a priest chaplain in hospital ministry at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. He will also assist with parish ministry on weekends at St. Bernard Church in Bellflower.
Father Francis Aytona Mendoza was born March 13, 1975 in Quezon City, Philippines, son of the late Desiderio Mendoza and Violeta Aytona. He attended Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, and began his college studies at UC Irvine majoring in Electrical Engineering.
After two years, he transferred to St. John's Seminary College, earning a BA in English with a minor in Philosophy, and completed his theological preparation at St. John's Theologate.
" My relationship with God grew immensely when I served in Youth for Christ, a youth group attached to the Couples for Christ movement which started in the Philippines," he said. "Being involved with youth ministry for about a year and a half, I found myself being called to the seminary. And the formation process at St. John's helped me to discover that my vocation was to priesthood."
Among the "many inspirational priests" who have inspired him to pursue a vocation to the priesthood is Msgr. Michael Killeen, pastor of his home parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Rowland Heights, where he has served as a deacon as well as at St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Church in Lomita, and St. Denis Church in Diamond Bar. His first assignment will be at St. Andrew Church in Pasadena.
"My reasons for becoming a priest simply rests on the reality that this is God's call for me," he said. "Everyone has a vocation. In dialoguing and processing it out with God for the last eight years, I have become convinced that this is what God is asking me to do with my life. And I have grown to love God and God's people all the more in the process."
Father Rodolfo Prado, 34, is a native of Michoacan, Mexico, the son of Maria I. Reyes and the late Luis Prado. He attended Miguel Hidalgo Elementary School in Michoacan, then came to the U.S. and graduated from Hawthorne High School.
"The pastor at my home parish in Mexico was my inspiration to think about the priesthood," he noted. "He was a role model for me and I wanted to be like him."
He earned a degree in philosophy from the seminary of Tijuana, and a degree in pedagogy from the Superior School of Pedagogy in Ensenada, before completing his theological preparation at St. John's. Having served as a transitional deacon at his home parish, St. Joseph Church in Hawthorne, he has been assigned to the clustered parishes of St. Columbkille and Nativity in South Los Angeles. |