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May 13, 2019
Catholic San Francisco spoke with Deacon Kyle J. Faller, Deacon Ernesto M. Jandonero and Deacon Michael P. Rocha, seminarians who will become the newest priests of the archdiocese when they are ordained May 18 at 10 a.m. at St. Mary's Cathedral. Archbishop Cordileone has issued the three men their first parish assignments: Deacon Faller, St. Pius Parish, Redwood City; Deacon Jandonero, St. Hilary Parish, Tiburon; Deacon Rocha, Church of the Epiphany, San Francisco.
Deacon Kyle J. Faller:
From a career focus to ‘something bigger’
The youngest of four boys in a devout Marin County family – including older brother Cameron, ordained a priest in the archdiocese in 2015 – Deacon Kyle Faller was a junior at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield when he first thought of the priesthood as a “serious option for my future.”
“I don’t remember my parents necessarily encouraging me to be a priest or speaking about the priesthood much,” Deacon Faller, 28, told Catholic San Francisco by phone May 3 from St. Patrick’s Seminary & University in Menlo Park. “They just wanted us to be happy.”
But his family’s regular Catholic practice was inarguably an influence, said Faller, who went to public elementary and middle schools. Praying the rosary together, going to Mass at their home parish of Our Lady of Loretto in Novato and adoring the Blessed Sacrament on first Fridays was “just part of the family regime.”
Father Thomas Daly, now bishop of Spokane, Washington, was president of Marin Catholic at the time and was a guiding force for the high schooler’s earliest yearnings. But the idea of the priesthood “fell to the wayside” at Franciscan University of Steubenville, where Deacon Faller started dating while he pursued a double major in political science and philosophy.
“I had hopes of working in politics in Washington, D.C.,” he said.
But his focus soon changed from career and earning a healthy paycheck to “how I could offer my life for something bigger.”
During a backpacking trip in Italy with college friends, Deacon Faller heard God’s distinct call, not telling him what to do but asking him what he wanted.
“That phrase resounded five times over within me before it kind of clicked in mind that God was offering me the choice,” he said. “It wasn’t as if I was being forced into something. I knew at that moment that my truest desire had revealed itself.”
He later traveled to Lourdes, France, where he and a friend sat in silence as the sun set after praying at the grotto.
“Kyle, everything I know about you and everything you’ve told me, I really think you are going to find your answers in the diocesan priesthood,” his friend told him.
“I would rather he hadn’t said that,” said Deacon Faller, who had not yet decided whether religious community or diocesan priesthood was right for him.
He called the experience an example of “the workings of grace.”
“I always thought that when we talk about God’s grace it was these profound moments where God gives you this new sense of passion and devotion and confidence and willingness to serve,” he said. “But what has struck me over the time of my formation is that’s the way that God’s grace works so profoundly, not just in isolated moments, but in relationships with people who become instruments of God’s grace.”
Christina Gray
Deacon Ernesto M. Jandonero:‘You have to let go of everything’
Deacon Ernesto Jandonero credited divine providence with having brought him to ordination as a priest in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Growing up 7,000 miles away in Iloilo City, Philippines, Deacon Jandonero said the idea of being a priest was always “hovering around, on and off.” In 2000, he moved to the U.S., first to New Hampshire and then to the East Bay, working as a registered nurse.
After being rejected from a few programs to get a further degree, Deacon Jandonero said he went on a retreat and decided to seriously consider the priesthood again.
“I was thinking at that time, I don’t want to live a life of ‘what if’ and then didn’t do it,” he said.
To prepare for joining the seminary, he decided to simplify his life and moved to South San Francisco, joining Mater Dolorosa Parish in South San Francisco and serving as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion.
Deacon Jandonero said at first he considered entering the seminary for the Diocese of Oakland, where he had lived a long time. Talking with his pastor, Father Roland de la Rosa, and attending an annual discernment retreat at St. Patrick’s Seminary & University, convinced him to join the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Seminary formation has been difficult in some ways. Deacon Jandonero said working in a professional career and then having to return to school had been “a little bit tough,” but it taught him the importance of surrendering everything to God.
“It takes a lot of humility and obedience to let go of myself in order to understand the true essence of my priestly calling,” he said.
“You have to let go of everything,” Deacon Jandonero added. “Physically, emotionally, spiritually, you have to be open to God. That’s the very key of answering the call to God.”
While Deacon Jandonero said he had gone through “a dark valley of challenges” in his journey to the priesthood, including frequent difficulties with his health, those experiences have made him “confident that God is with me.”
His previous career as a nurse has also helped reassure him he is prepared for the work of priesthood. Deacon Jandonero said not only had he seen challenging circumstances in his former job, but his longtime work in the corporate world caring for people undergoing “physical illness and spiritual devastation” gave him useful experiences to draw on in his service as a priest.
“Those experiences I had in working with different people, with different beliefs, nationality and culture had taught me good lessons that I could use in my future priestly ministry,” he said.
Looking forward to his ordination, Deacon Jandonero said that like Christ, he hopes to be “be a good shepherd of the people of God and bring the flock closer to Him.”
Nicholas Wolfram Smith
Deacon Michael P. Rocha:‘A perpetual yes’
Growing up in Modesto, Deacon Michael Rocha’s exposure to faith came from a vibrantly Catholic family and from his time spent at church. Family rosaries in the evening were a staple at his house from a young age and he spent “many hours” praying in his parish’s perpetual adoration chapel and altar serving.
More than anything else, he said, “these led me to discern a call to priesthood.”
At age 14, Deacon Rocha went through confirmation preparation and began to intentionally cultivate a deeper prayer life, especially through eucharistic adoration. During that time, he first began to have thoughts about joining the priesthood. The example of his parish priest, Father Joseph Illo, who is now the pastor of Star of the Sea in San Francisco, also made a deep impression.
“His zeal for ministry, reverence at the altar, charity in serving the people of God and deep devotion to personal prayer inspired me to consider a call to the priesthood,” Deacon Rocha said.
By the time he finished high school the idea had dwindled away and Deacon Rocha focused on preparing for a professional career. He entered the University of California Riverside on a pre-dentistry track. After a year and a half of studying sciences, though, Deacon Rocha said he realized that “was not my call nor passion.”
After meeting with the archdiocesan vocations director, visiting St. Patrick’s Seminary & University and going on retreats, he became more certain of his calling, switched his major to philosophy and applied to the seminary. Immediately after college graduation in 2013, he entered St. Patrick’s.
Six years later, Deacon Rocha said he looks forward to starting his life as a priest. Being a priest today “demands not only time and presence but also patience, understanding, prudence and charity,” he said.
Offering the sacraments means “a perpetual ’yes’ to be there for the people in order to help them encounter Christ,” he said.
At the same time, Deacon Rocha said, society “is further and further trying to eliminate God or religion from public life. As a result, many young people are either leaving the church or are not well informed about the beautiful truths of our Catholic faith.”
Deacon Rocha said that under those circumstances priests have to be ready to preach the faith to people from a variety of backgrounds.
Deacon Rocha said clergy in the archdiocese have the particular challenge of presenting the faith “to a culture engaged in the advancements of technology, social media and new trends.” The prevalence of loneliness and social isolation in society offers an opportunity for the church to offer “a personal and communal relationship with Jesus Christ in His Church,” he said.
Deacon Rocha’s first Mass will be offered in Latin at Star of the Sea Church, May 19 at 11:30 a.m.
Nicholas Wolfram Smith