“Remember: You belong to God from eternity to eternity. You were loved by God before you were born; you will be loved by God long after you die. Your human lifetime—long or short—is only a part of your total life in God. The length of time doesn’t matter. Life is just a little opportunity for you during a few years to say to God: “I love you, too.” - Henri J. Nouwen
It was a first, to be at the consecration of the first Filipino-American Bishop Oscar Solis on February 10, 2004, appointed by Pope John Paul II, now St. John Paul II.
12 years later, another first to witness 9 graduates of St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, ordained by the Most Reverend Jose H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles to the Order of Priesthood , on June 4, 2016 .
Rev. Jeffrey Vincent Baker, Rev. Joshua Edward Diener, Rev. Luis Angel Espinoza Trinidad, Rev. Paolo Martin Jacinto Garcia, Rev. Anthony Richard Garcias, Rev. Gregorio Hidalgo, Rev. Matthew Paul Murphy, Rev. Ethan Douglas Southard and Rev. Albert van der Woerd ranged in ages, 29 to 56 yo.
Three have musical backgrounds: a classically trained singer in Rev. Joshua Diener; Rev. Albert van der Woerd‘s original composition, That Your Fruit Should Abide, sung by the choir, and Rev. Gregorio Hidalgo .
They grew up in various parts of Los Angeles: Glendale, North Hills, Long Beach, Rowland Heights, Santa Monica and Santa Clarita.
Each will have new parishes: St. Charles Borromeo in North Hollywood, St. Mary’s in Palmdale, St. Gregory the Great in Whittier, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Rowland Heights, St. John Chrysostom in Inglewood, St. Rose of Lima in Simi Valley, St. Monica in Santa Monica, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Santa Clarita and San Buenaventura Mission in Ventura.
I met one of the new priests, Rev. Fr. Joshua Edward Diener, as a seminarian intern at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in East Hollywood, mentored by Fr. Rodel Balagtas. He led at a Lenten retreat during choir singing. He also did his first homily in English, recalling his best friend’s loyalty and love that he has for him and his family.
The Ordination Mass at the Cathedral of Angels in Downtown Los Angeles
The mass lasted 3 hours, with 200 priests individually laying hands on the heads of these 9 new priests, blessing them with “the spirit of holiness” from their fraternity of brotherhood, and welcoming them into their ranks.
In turn, these 9 new priests blessed 11 archbishop, a cardinal and bishops, perhaps a symbol of humility from these church leaders with higher ranking than them.
“You were found to be worthy, chosen and then, now into the order of priesthood,“ as Archbishop Jose H. Gomez venerated them, “The priest is the face of Christ, the heart of Christ. You are now the examples of good sheperds – to serve and not to be served,” he emphasized.
He then asked, “Do you promise respect and obedience to me and my successors?” and all replied, “I do.” He said, “Receive the oblation of Holy People to be offered to God. Understand what you do. Imitate what you celebrate. Conform your life to the mysteries of the Lord’s cross.”
When all 9 laid on the ground, facing downward in reverence, their bodies’ reflections formed a complete circle on the marble floors. It was a very sacred moment which sent goosebumps, some had tears, and one next to me, “I am very proud as a Catholic this morning!”
As God’s gift would manifest more for that day, two joined me at my lunch table, unsolicited. St. Mary Glennon of Holy Faith Community, a member of the Spiritual and Human Formation teams at St. John Seminary for 15 years offered insights: “Every year we celebrate the beautiful ordination ceremony – how good is our God! “You have not chosen me; I have chosen you,” May God bless our new priests.”
Eman Delfin, Seminarian of Class of 2019, shared: “The Ordination Mass has always touched my heart deeply and the prayers, a profound awe for the priesthood. Seeing my brothers in seminary get ordained makes the reality of being a priest that much closer, bringing me comfort of the future—for myself as well as for the priestly ministry of the Archdiocese.”
I sat with Elvira Guzman, who just lost her husband in 2013, and now looks forward to her son, Gilbert Guzman with two years to finish at St. John’s and in 2017, will be a deacon and in 2018, ordained as a priest.
God may have taken two family members from me (my mom and my eldest sister died within a span of 60 days recently),yet somehow God is ushering me to know more priests, one of them is Fr. Joshua Diener.
Who is Rev. Fr. Joshua Edward Diener?
Once shy, Fr. Joshua now looks forward to immersing in the lives of church’s parishioners. After all, he observed Fr. Rodel Balagtas, Fr. Alex Aclan and Fr. Camilo Pacanza’s positive examples with parishioners.
“I look forward to falling in love with the people of God,” Fr. Joshua said, to Maria Luisa Torres of Angelus News, “Early on, my parents were a great influence on me to live out my faith as fully as I could. When I was young, I loved the wonderful priests of my home parish, and I had a positive image of what priests were and what they did. In high school, I knew that there were different opportunities for me in life, and what was important to me was to do something that was deeply meaningful in the world.
“I seriously considered the life of a priest, but chose to pursue studying music, which I deeply loved. All the while, I worked in the office of my home parish and saw the day-to-day work of parish priests. The more I invested myself in a path towards a musical career, the more I admired the beautiful and self-sacrificing work of priests. By the end of my undergraduate career, I knew what I was being asked to do with my life.”
Homeschooled, he had few opportunit ies to immerse in the diasporic vibrant multiple cultures of Los Angeles. True to his new conviction of knowing more of God’s people, he joined Harana Men’s Chorus’ Mike Zuniga and Don Martin Sagabarria, one evening in Chinatown for tonkatsu ramen and current affairs discussions. I was with them. As he joined more Filipino – Americans, parishioners at times would speak to him in Tagalog, forgetting he speaks mostly English and Spanish.
At a Santo Nińo celebration, organized by Fr. Rodel Balagtas, a faculty at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, Rev. Fr. Joshua, a deacon then, led a group of seminarians in singing hymns at mass. During Simbang Gabi masses at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church (IHMC) in 2014, he joined the choir in singing Tagalog songs.
His efforts at learning other people’s languages continue to endear him to IHMC’s parishioners. On June 12, at 930am, IHMC’s parishioners eagerly await Fr. Joshua to celebrate his first mass and to listen to his first homily. Imagine at age 22, to hear God’s call and 7 years later, he is now a newly ordained priest.
Welcome to being God’s new sheperd, Fr. Joshua Diener, we are proud to have witnessed two years of your journey from intern to deacon to now, a priest!