Last Friday, 26 June, was a great day for our institution and especially for the province of the United States. Cardinal Dolan ordained our brother Roland Pereira, together with another diocesan priest, in a solemn ceremony concelebrated by the Superior General, Fr. Luis Casasús, and other Idente priests, and several bishops, among them our brother Luis Miguel Romero, who will be ordained auxiliary bishop of Rockville Center on Monday 29 June.
The following is a transcript of the news published by the diocesan newspaper (Catholic NY) with the chronicle of the ceremony.
Ordination of Two Priests Was ‘Like a Booster Shot’ for the Archdiocese, Cardinal Says
BY CHRISTIE L. CHICOINE
With coronavirus protocols in place, Cardinal Dolan ordained two men to the priesthood—one for the Archdiocese of New York, the other for the Idente Missionaries—June 26 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Speaking with CNY after Mass, Cardinal Dolan described the celebration as a moment of renewal and grace. “I said how great it was to be with people again in church for such an uplifting, enlightening, inspirational occasion. It was like a booster shot to the entire archdiocese, to have two new priests.”
Father Luis M. Silva Cervantes, 35, a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, was ordained to serve as a priest for the Archdiocese of New York. Father Roland P. Pereira, M.Id., 37, from Puttur, India, was ordained for the Idente Missionaries. The order serves at parishes in the archdiocese.
“I’m almost speechless,” Father Silva told CNY after the 9 a.m. Mass of Ordination the cardinal celebrated. “This is so wonderful, so beautiful. It was a long journey for me. It started in Mexico and finished here in New York.
“I’m so, so, so happy and so grateful to God for His mercy and compassion toward me, and for having chosen me to be His priest in this Archdiocese. I’m really looking forward to work with the people.”
Father Silva clutched in his hands an unopened envelope containing his first priestly assignment. “I have it here. After I pray, I will see it.”
To those he will soon serve, he asked, with a gentle laugh, that they “please be patient” with him. “I love them already.”
Father Pereira summed up his reaction to being ordained a priest as “happy” and “grateful,” he told CNY, “that I’ve been chosen for this ministry.”
“I know that I’m not worthy. I’m just excited,” he added, not only for himself but also for the Idente community and for the people, “for things that God is going to do with me in my future ministry.”
He said his first priestly assignment will be at Our Lady of Loretto parish in Hempstead, Long Island, in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, where he has been serving as director of youth and young adult ministry.
“I’m excited for the young people, especially those attending here today, that I hopefully be that seed that enkindles the fire of love of Christ,” as well as a vocation to deeper commitment to consecrated life, to priesthood and religious life, that could come forth.
The restricted number of congregants assembled at the Ordination Mass adhered to social distancing guidelines and wore masks.
Cardinal Dolan, in his homily, acknowledged the “extraordinary circumstances” in which the ordination rite was being celebrated. In the present climate, he explained, “extraordinary” referred to ordination under the strict constraints of the coronavirus pandemic. “So Luis and Roland, yes, we can term your ordination this morning to be ‘extraordinary’ because of COVID-19. Yet, I propose to you and to all of us that the ordination to the sacrament of holy orders— wherever, whenever, however, to whomever—is always extraordinary.
“It is supernatural, it is downright miraculous,” the cardinal said.
“The support of parents and families in bringing these two men to the altar is extraordinary; even if, sadly, many members of the Silva and Pereira families aren’t able to be with us in person, we’re strongly united with them.
“And hear us say thank God; thank God for your indispensable part in bringing these two men to this sacred moment,” the cardinal said in English and Spanish.
“The priestly preparation given these two, Roland and Luis, by our excellent seminaries and by the Idente Missionaries, has been extraordinary.”
“All the affirmation rendered by so many” priests and parishes, religious, faithful Catholics and the archbishop’s auxiliary bishops, “has been extraordinary,” he added.
“And most radiantly,” the cardinal said, “the grace of God evident this morning in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is miraculous. Thank God for the blessing of being part of something so supernatural, so miraculous, so extraordinary.”
Father Pereira said his parents, brother and sister and other family members from India who were unable to attend his ordination due to coronavirus restrictions were watching the liturgy live, remotely. “I’m waiting for their reaction; I’m looking forward to that,” he said.
He faithfully reconciled their absence amid the global pandemic. “Even though they’re far away, they’re still close to me. And God is going to use this moment in different ways that maybe I had not imagined.”
Father Silva’s family members present included his two brothers, one from Chicago and the other from his native Mexico. His father, who resides in Mexico, was unable to attend.
As he was ordained, Father Silva thought of his late mother, who died 15 years ago. “Because of her prayers,” he said, “I’m right now a priest.” He shared that he said a “Mama, Gracias” in his prayers, thanking her for “always praying for me, always believing in me,” particularly “when I was a little bit astray from the faith.”
“Even in her last moments, when she was dying, she trusted that I would come back home to the Catholic Church. And I did. And now I’m a priest.”
https://www.cny.org/stories/two-priests-ordained-at-mass-in-st-patricks-cathedral,21197?
