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Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone stands with newly ordained Fathers Benjamin J. Rosado and Ian B. Quito at St. Pius Church, Redwood City, after their ordination on Aug.1, 2020. (Photo by Dennis Callahan/Catholic San Francisco)
Aug. 3, 2020
Nicholas Wolfram Smith
The Archdiocese of San Francisco celebrated one of the most unusual priestly ordinations in its history at St. Pius Parish, Redwood City on Aug. 1, 2020, as pandemic measures changed the look of one of the highlights of the archdiocesan year.“We cannot have the usual frills this day but that all the more highlights what is of only true and lasting value: winning souls for Christ by loving them as a Good Shepherd, leading them to good pasture, providing for them, protecting them, and ultimately sacrificing your life for them, in imitation of your master whom you love above all things,” Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone told Benjamin J. Rosado and Ian B. Quito, the candidates for ordination, in his homily.
He added that the challenges to ministry the church faces now are “a reminder to you of the resourcefulness and creativity the good shepherd needs in order to provide pastoral care for his people in ever changing circumstances.”
Attendance was limited to fewer than 100 people, all friends and family of Father Quito and Father Rosado and clergy of the archdiocese. At the church entrance, parish volunteers scanned temperatures, checked names against an invite list and made sure people wore masks. In the nave, signs on the sanitizer dispensers encouraged people to spread the Gospel, not germs.
The ordination rite had been transferred from St. Mary’s Cathedral to St. Pius because San Francisco County health orders do not permit more than 12 people to gather. The evening of Aug. 1, San Mateo County notified local pastors that indoor religious services would be suspended as part of a wider business shutdown resulting from the county’s three-day inclusion on California’s coronavirus watch list.
Archbishop Cordileone preached on what priestly ministry in the church means in light of Christ the Good Shepherd. A shepherd “guides, provides and protects,” he said. In a similar way, pastors are responsible for keeping their flock together, protecting them from spiritual predators and leading them to heaven.
Priestly leadership must grow out of love, he reminded his listeners. “Any power which is not exercised out of love eventually becomes destructive,” the archbishop said.
Archbishop Cordileone said that while pastoral ministry was a labor of love, it would also at times be difficult work. He pointed to the first reading of the liturgy, when Moses begs God to die because he cannot handle the burden of leading the Hebrew people.
“At times every priest finds himself praying this prayer," he said. "We rejoice with you today with great joy but believe me, there will be days ahead when you find yourself praying this prayer.”Community is the solution to the hardships encountered in priesthood, he said. Priests are ordained into a “communion of fellow presbyters” who collaborate together with the bishop in a diocese.
“If a priest veers off into isolation, he will then tend the sheep for his own profit, whether that be material comfort, prestige, esteem or any other motive that is not exclusively the spiritual well being of the people assigned to him,” he said.
Priests also have the responsibility to make sure their flock do not become isolated. The COVID-19 shutdown has shown the harm isolation brings to people's mental and spiritual health, he said.
“God made us for communion and I am ever grateful to our priests, who are finding creative ways to keep in touch with our people and provide them with a sense of community at their parish in order to guide them and support them in their faith,” the archbishop said.
Father Quito, a native of Pampanga, Philippines, will take up his first priestly assignment as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, Redwood City. Father Rosado, who is from Daly City, will serve as parochial vicar at St. Matthew Parish, San Mateo.After the Mass ended, the newly ordained men offered first blessings outside. Helen Bernardoni, finance coordinator at St. Raphael Parish, said she drove down from San Rafael to see Father Rosado be ordained. “He’s very sweet, he listens, he’s pretty prayerful -- he’ll make a good priest,” she said. “We wouldn’t miss it.”
Father Quito’s mother, Neites Blanco Quito, said she was filled with happiness that her son, who entered seminary in the Philippines and had to restart his studies when he came to the U.S., was finally ordained.
“It’s God’s will because he tried everything just to make it,” she said.
Neites Quito said that since he was young her son “loved mama Mary and Jesus Christ” and in kindergarten would try to lead the other students in prayer. “We are very proud of him and we love him so much,” she said.
Her husband, Israel Quito, said it had been hard at first for their only son to join the priesthood, but “I am happy because he wants to be a priest.”