Shepherd's Slant

My brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, 

I have announced the following priest assignment changes to begin on July 1, 2025 in our diocese:

1. Rev. Francisco Maldonado from Pastor of Our Lady of the Mountains Parish in Sierra Vista to Pastor of St. Cyril Parish in Tucson replacing the Carmelite Fathers who have served the community recently. I am grateful to Fr. Ron Oakham O.Carm for coming out of retirement to serve with distinction as Administrator of St. Cyril.
2. Rev. Richard Awange from Pastor of St. Margaret Mary in Tucson to Pastor of Our Lady of the Mountains Parish in Sierra Vista.
3. Rev. Richard Rivera from Parochial Vicar at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Tucson to Administrator of St. Pius X Parish in Tucson, while retaining his service as part-time Associate Vocation Director. Rev. Dennis Bosse, OFM has been transferred by his Provincial to another Diocese.
4. Rev. Bardo Antunez from Parochial Vicar at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Tucson to Pastor of Our Lady, Queen of All Saints in Tucson.
5. Rev. Luis Pablo Ochoa-Escarrega from Parochial Vicar at Immaculate Conception Parish in Yuma to Parochial Vicar at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Tucson while retaining his service as a part-time Associate Vocation Director.
6. Rev. Alan Soto Hopkins from Canon Law studies and part time Parochial Vicar at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton to full time Parochial Vicar at St. Augustine Cathedral in Tucson
7. Rev. Peter Pedraza from part time study in Canon Law and Parochial Vicar at St. Augustine Cathedral in Tucson to full time Parochial Vicar at Immaculate Conception Parish in Yuma. Rev. James Macarenas MSFS will be leaving being Parochial Vicar at IC Yuma to return to India as requested by his Provincial.
8. Rev. Michael Burns, SDS will be Parish Administrator at Most Holy Trinity replacing Rev. Thomas Tureman who has been elected as Provincial of the Salvatorian Community in the USA beginning on May 24.

Additional Assignments will be announced as soon as finalized. We are expecting several priests to be returning or beginning in the Diocese prior to July and their assignments will be announced when they arrive.

We are grateful in the Diocese of Tucson to have the priestly services of a number of International Priests from Dioceses in India, in Africa, in Mexico, Latin America, and in Asia as well as Religious Communities including the Via Christi Community from Nigeria, the Carmelites (OCarm), the Franciscans, the Jesuits, Redemptorists, the Vietnamese Redemptorists, the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales and the Salvatorian USA Province. I am delighted that the Salvatorian Community is concentrating their priestly ministries in three dioceses, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Dioceses of Sacramento, California and Tucson. They will soon staff two of our parishes.

We continue to struggle with a shortage of our own diocesan priests. I am grateful to Rev. Alan Valencia, our Vocation Director and his Associate Vocation Directors, Revs. Abundio Colazo-Lopez, Jesus Gomez, Luis Pablo Ochoa-Escarrega, Roberto Villablanca and all of our parish vocation teams who are identifying and encouraging those who might be considering a call from Christ.

This past Sunday I celebrated by 58th year as a priest. It has been such a rewarding and fulfilling vocation and such a blessing for me. I began serving as a parochial vicar at St Joseph Parish in Libertyville, Illinois where I met so many lay women and men who taught me so much about what it means to serve. I have served in seminary work for more than twenty-five years, ministering with so many men, young and older, considering the priesthood. Their desire to serve the Lord has been an inspiration for me. I can only say to those thinking of the priesthood, it can be such a blessing and gift to be called to serve as a priest. You would experience much joy and fulfillment. Not every day is perfect, no one’s life is, but you can live a life of great meaning in serving others.



At the end of May, we will have our Annual Priest Convocation in Chandler, AZ, during which we will be celebrating special anniversaries of some of our priests. My 58 years pale in comparison to Fr. James Shea, CSSR who this year celebrates his 60th, Fr. William Adams CSSR and Msgr. Tom Cahalane, Rev. Charles Knapp celebrating 62 years, Rev. Joseph Anderson and Rev. Thomas De Man at the Newman Center celebrating 63 years of ordination and Rev. Cyprian Hibner, O.Carm from Salpointe celebrating 64 years ordained.
I always enjoyed going around the tables at the Convocation asking each of our priests the number of years they have been ordained. When you add them up it is astounding the years of service rendered by our priests among us. Remember to thank your priests for their service. The Church bid farewell to a true servant of God, Franciscus as he chooses to have written on his tomb and as he always signed his letters, simply Franciscus. He rests as a poor man who lived with simplicity and whose greatest desire was to serve. He will be missed.

This past Sunday, the Second Sunday After Easter, we held a Mass at St. Augustine Cathedral honoring Pope Francis. It was, as you know, Divine Mercy Sunday which was declared by Pope St. John Paul II to be celebrated on the Second Sunday After Easter. Pope Francis spoke often of God’s mercy and even called for an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy beginning on December 8, 2015 and concluded on November 20, 2016. During that year Pope Francis emphasized forgiveness and reconciliation. During that year many celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation at which they encountered the mercy of God.
I was delighted by the number of people who attended. Fr. Alan Valencia, Rector of St Augustine held a second collection to be given to the Kino Border Initiative in Ambos Nogales for its work with migrants and refugees. Some children brought up flowers to be placed at the image of Pope Francis displayed in the Sanctuary as well as baskets of flowers to be given to the homeless of our community. Fr. Valencia also plans to plant several trees between the rectory and Cathedral in honor of Pope Francis’ groundbreaking document Laudato Si asking us to respect and care for our world even as St. Francis of Assisi delighted in all of God’s creation. Remembrance cards of Pope Francis were available after Mass as well as two Books of Remembrance which many people signed paying tribute to the blessings Pope Francis shared with all of us during his Pontificate.

We pray fervently now for the Cardinals who will gather soon in the Sistine Chapel bearing the awesome responsibility of choosing the next Holy Father. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide them to choose the one who will lead the Church into the future.

Many people are wondering what the choosing of the next Pope will mean for the selection of our eighth bishop. For one thing, it may mean the process will take a little longer, although not necessarily so. We just don’t know at this point. It takes a new Pope time to direct his nuncios all around the world on what he wants and expects of a bishop. At the present time there are a number of bishops in (Arch)dioceses that are older than 75 and awaiting word on their successor, plus some dioceses like our own who have lost their bishop to another (Arch)diocese. I have no idea where we are in that line. But let’s keep praying our Diocesan Prayer that the Spirit will help the new Holy Father to choose wisely that our eighth bishop will be a true Good Shepherd, who will love our diocese and serve it faithfully.
 
I will be traveling in the footsteps of St. Paul for the next twelve days with thirty-seven other pilgrims. I will try to share experiences from the pilgrimage as we travel these next few days through Greece and Turkey. One can only wonder how St. Paul did it without international travel. It must have been exhausting especially as we read all that St. Paul went through bringing the news of Christ to far flung communities.

Our young pilgrims that were in Rome along with Fr. Manu Franco, O.Carm, Fr. Luis Pablo Ochoa-Escarega, Carlos Nagore a third-year theologian and a number of chaperones had an experience they could not have dreamed of being in Rome at the death of Pope Francis. They are witnesses firsthand of the outpouring of love by people all over the world for Francis who was a father, a shepherd and a prophet in our time. I understand they were in St. Peter’s Basilica moving at a tortoise’s pace down the center aisle of the Basilica to stand before the coffin of Francis and be reminded of what this priest, bishop and Pope did for our world. Priesthood matters! Priesthood makes a difference!

These young people from all around our Diocese were at the funeral celebration this past Saturday. Lorraine Rivera, our Diocesan Communication Director, is communicating to all of us some of their experiences. Quite amazing! They will have a lot to share with their families and friends.

Last week I met with Mr. Miles Green, Executive Director of the Patronato San Xavier and Mr. R. Brooks Jeffrey, Professor Emeritus of Architecture at the University of Arizona who informed me of the outstanding work the Patronato continue to do in the restoration of the area’s most historic structure, San Xavier Del Bac. Many of us have visited the Mission at one time or another as have hundreds of thousands of others. The White Dove of the Desert, as it is called is, quite impressive.

The Patronato is an organization of local people who understand the importance of the Mission in the history of our region. Through funds they have raised, great structural and interior restoration has taken place. They plan to complete the work on the chapel and continue the restoration of some of the other very historic buildings in the mission complex.
We can be deeply grateful for the care, attention and resources raised by the Patronato in the restoration of the Mission. The Franciscan Fathers continue to serve on the Tohono O’odham nation and its many missions in our Diocese. What a blessing they are in serving those whom Fr. Kino SJ and other missionaries brought into the faith.

I thank you for your support and prayers.