“Moses learned that God makes no exceptions for holiness. When God sets forth a requirement of His people, He most certainly demands it of the leaders. God wanted to make Moses’ life a highway of holiness through which He could bring redemption to millions of people. Obedience to Christ’s commands always brings fulfillment. When the Lord gives you instructions, obey immediately. Don’t wait until you have figured it all out and everything makes perfect sense to you. HE does not usually reveal all the details of His will when He first speaks to you. Instead, He tells you enough so you can implement what He has said, but He withholds enough information so that you must continue to rely upon His guidance.” – Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby, Experiencing God Daily Devotionals, 1998.
When I read that daily devotional one evening, I could not help but notice that the quotes synchronized with what Fr. Rodel Balagtas shared about God’s calling. He is now the Vice Rector, Director of Pastoral Formation and Field Education, Chair of Pastoral Studies Department, and Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology at St. John’s Seminary (SJS) in Camarillo, California, after serving as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in East Hollywood for 12 years. Notice his four pillars of responsibilities at SJS will mirror the four pillars of priestly formation that Pope Francis spoke of in 2016, which you will read about.
Fr. Rodel Balagtas has a degree in BA in Classical Arts (San Carlos Seminary, Makati, Metro-Manila); a Master of Divinity, MA in Religion (St. John’s Seminary, Camarillo) and a Doctor of Ministry in Preaching (Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis, Missouri).
One-hundred-year-old IHMC
When Fr. Rodel Balagtas took over a parish, it had a history of grievances from factions within. Dogma solidified their grievances. The community’s unhealthy condition mirrored the church structures — dying and falling apart. Then, a transformation happened and its past history of divisions was interrupted.
The parish was mobilized for a centennial celebration. Archives were dug up and new inspiration emerged from a realization that the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church (IHMC) in East Hollywood was built during the early periods of recession.
After an economic slowdown in 2009-2011, the parish community and its pastor defied these economic realities with their solid faith in God, and proceeded with their capital campaign. At first, the campaign had collected $150,000 cash, out of their ambitious $1,000,000 goal. But, after modifying their tactics, including doing a number of retreats, organizing internal activities to unify the parishioners and external outreach to the larger community — all of these inspired the community to reach for their goal, grossing over $1 million. The Asian Journal’s publishers contributed to this capital campaign as well as other media practitioners in Los Angeles.
On May 31, 2014, a wall plaque permanently displayed the families who made donations of over $1,000+ and with those: heating and airconditioning (HV/AC) in the church, a new roof for the parish center, painted interiors and exteriors, a new electrical system for the church and the rectory, new marble flooring from the aisles to the altar, new baptismal font, refurbished pews for the community, repaving of church and school parking lots, secured school and church fences and improved lighting to protect parochial school students and parishioners, new ambo and presider’s chair for the priests (donated by Fr. Balagtas for the community), remodeled rectory kitchen, new trees in the school playground, a new auditorium floor and a new school roof.
Three thousand came to the centennial celebration. That was the front-story, attended by Archbishop Jose Gomez, regional bishops, the who’s who of the Los Angeles’ Catholic community, and IHMC’s parishioners.
The back-story was Fr. Rodel Balagtas and his siblings were going through a transitional crisis of taking care of their father with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, who needed oxygen hookup to breathe. He needed 24/7 care, while all the siblings had full-time jobs to tend to.
The family members rotated in giving service to their ailing father, along with caregivers, while Fr. Balagtas sustained his stewardship of a church, which was undergoing internal and structural changes. He kept this up for two years, until his father died.
What was remarkable was how Fr. Balagtas sustained his familial relationships with his father, his siblings, his nieces and nephews, by integrating them in the church’s activities. His Easter mass included them, as Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas holiday as well. Two pews in the church were reserved for them. After mass, the congregation welcomed his siblings and at times, his father who would make the journey, just to be part of the community and his family.
Though the tensions were palpable from his facial expressions, Fr. Balagtas shared his familial joys with the parish, hoping that a solidified family unit, even as a family member is on his way home to God, was the best example of a pastor in charge of his church community and his family.
He remained vulnerable, accessible, approachable to his parishioners, and even doled out the necessary advice to help families restore the sacred core of their relationships. He kept evangelizing.
His Marian Heart
Fast forward to today, and my conversations with Fr. Balagtas are centered on Mama Mary: “Mama Mary is a great part of me. Like when I had to write my doctoral thesis, I asked her to pray for me, [and told her] I am your son. She has never failed to protect me. I am priest — hence, I represent her son. I have a Marian heart — I always turn to her. My whole life as a priest — I pray to her that I be faithful to my calling and to protect that calling – even my relationships with my siblings, and whatever relationships I have with the people. These are sacred friendships and to protect them. Every priest should turn to her and pray to her.”
He also made trips, while as a pastor, to renew his perspectives about life and the Holy Land, as part of the centennial celebration.
One such trip took him to Mexico, where he joined one of the families who worshipped in IHMC. While there, he visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico and he shared that his devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe got deeper.
“I also took a cultural immersion trip to Guatemala, where he visited the Basilica of El Senor Esquipulas and to El Salvador, where he paid homage to Blessed Oscar Romero’s tomb (soon to be canonized as a saint). I made these trips to honor my Guatemalan and Salvadoran IHMC parishioners,” Fr. Balagtas shared.
October 2018 Marian Pilgrimage
2017 was the 100th year anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. He will lead a pilgrimage this October, 2018, the 101stanniversary, with American-based pilgrims who will make their way to Lourdes, France, but also Spain, to visit Our Lady of Montserrat or the Virgin of Montserrat.
“When I travel — I pray to her, not just as an intercessor, but also a guide, a mentor and a role model,” Fr. Balagtas continued.
“Our Lady of Montserrat or the Virgin of Montserrat is a Marian title associated with a venerated statue of the Madonna and Child at the Santa Maria de Montserrat monastery on the Montserrat Mountain in Catalonia, Spain.”
The pilgrimage will also take them to Our Lady of Pillar in Zaragoza, Spain. Our Lady of the Pillar (Spanish: Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with the claim of Marian apparition to Apostle James the Greater as he was praying by the banks of the Ebro at Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza), Hispania, in AD 40. The celebrated wooden image is enshrined at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza,” as Wikipedia, noted.
When I asked him to share miracles about the Virgin Mary, he said, “Amongst parishioners, they are not [experiencing] apparitions, but more of from their pain, they turn to her, and they go through spiritual transformations.”
In one of the spiritual Lenten retreats that Fr. Balagtas led at IHMC, he referred to the Virgin Mary as the first feminist. He explained that he used the word of a theologian, referring to the Virgin Mary, as the woman whom the Lord God chose to be the mother of Jesus, and who played a big role in salvation history.
“Feminist,” he said, “has a volume of meaning for the people.”
During his sabbatical from teaching at St. John’s Seminary, he will be going for a Holy Land retreat on May 27-June 9, 2018.
75-year-old St. John’s Seminary and God’s calling
From IHMC, a one hundred year old church, Fr. Balagtas’ journey took him to St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, a 100 miles one way commute.
He reflected on the fact that he has spent 12 years of priestly formation: four years of high school at Mother of Good Counsel Seminary in San Fernando, Pampanga; 4 years of College at San Carlos Seminary in Makati (he is honored to be a classmate of 3 bishops in the Philippines, including the renowned Archbishop Socrates Villegas, the former Chair of the CBCP (Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines; and 4 years of Theology studies at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo. If you add the years of taking his doctorate, he had spent 16 years in priestly formation.
“I have been an altar server ever since I was a little boy. It is different for everyone, but you feel God’s voice in your heart. I had that calling since after elementary when a group of seminarians came to our school and did the vocation talk. I saw how happy they were that I told myself – I want that life,” Fr. Balagtas shared when he became conscious of God’s calling.
“When you are being called by God, though everyone experiences a deep encounter with the Lord, there is something dramatic, something of a conversion experience, even a restlessness, a feeling of emptiness, it can even be influenced by family, but that emptiness is only satisfied by God,” Fr. Balagtas emphasized.
At St. John’s Seminary, he described: “a beautiful ministry to journey with men who are called to be priests and further. It is to teach them, to guide them, to inspire them; it is a blessing and a privilege. [I have] not felt the calling of being an academe, as I am more into serving the people of God. It is more of following God’s plan, ‘to bloom where you are planted.’ I am blessed to have this opportunity.”
“What would you tell the incoming recruits,” I asked, and he said, “Respond to the calling. It is real! When God calls you, follow that. Not all [of my life is] happy, joyful, [it has] many hardships, sacrifices to follow the Lord – [it is] filled with crosses, but [there is] so much joy in serving, lots of struggles, too. One must be prayerful, have the support of mentors, formators, friends, people like you, for only by God’s grace, that I have remained faithful to HIM.”
As he summed up his 27 years of priesthood, I recalled what Pope Francis described as four pillars of priestly formation: intellectual, human, communitarian, and spiritual: “In the seminary, there are four pillars: spiritual life, prayer; community life with your companions, the life of study; because we must study – no-one tolerates a priest who does not understand things, who has no method for understanding things and who does not have a solid base of knowledge of the things of God; and fourth, apostolic life. At the weekend you go to the parish and you have this experience. These four pillars, may they always be present… And returning to the Holy Spirit, I would like to underline a virtue, very important and necessary for the priest: apostolic zeal. To have this, you must be open to the Holy Spirit; He will give you apostolic zeal. You must ask for it! Discreet zeal, but apostolic.” – Pope Francis’ speech of Dec. 12, 2016
Pope Francis recalls the icons of his childhood: “These good priests, who get up at any hour of the night to go to a sick person, to give the sacraments – ‘but I must rest, the Lord saves all, leave the telephone off the hook …’ This [willingness] is apostolic zeal, this is what it means to spend your life in the service of others. And at the end, what remains to you? The joy of service to the Lord! Think about the nun, and think about the telephone on the bedside table; think about the people, think about the Tabernacle; think of the four pillars. Many things to think about … and think also of the bishops, your fathers: if you have something against him, sooner or later, the first who must know this is him, and not others in gossip.”
It seems that Fr. Balagtas evolved in these four pillars: his intellectual formation in four seminaries; his human and communitarian formation in staying engaged and connected with his family of 7 brothers, sisters and their families; while interacting with multi-cultural communities of Southern California, as well as the Midwest community, where he got his doctorate; and his daily spiritual devotion to Mama Mary, weekend masses at different parishes in Los Angeles, and pilgrimages to other countries for spiritual retreats.
This Easter, I cannot think of a better spiritual example of deep faith than Mama Mary, and a spiritual mentor and example on how to navigate life’s struggles in this world, than Fr. Rodel Balagtas.
They say when you write, you teach yourself. Thanks to Roger Oriel for giving me this assignment for this Lenten season, for from this assignment, I learned deeper aspects of my faith.
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Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz, J.D. writes a weekly column for Asian Journal, called “Rhizomes.” She has been writing for AJ Press for 10 years. She also contributes to Balikbayan Magazine. Her training and experiences are in science, food technology, law and community volunteerism for 4 decades. She holds a B.S. degree from the University of the Philippines, a law degree from Whittier College School of Law in California and a certificate on 21st Century Leadership from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She has been a participant in NVM Writing Workshops taught by Prof. Peter Bacho for 4 years and Prof. Russell Leong. She has travelled to France, Holland, Belgium, Japan, Costa Rica, Mexico and over 22 national parks in the US, in her pursuit of love for nature and the arts.