Two missionaries of the Neocatechumenal Way, Giovanni Julio Gonzalez and Jorge Mairena Marquez, were ordained as priests of the Archdiocese of Sydney, by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP on 5 December in St Mary’s Cathedral.
Fr Julio Gonzalez comes from Colombia and Fr Mairena Marquez from Costa Rica, both famed for their aromatic coffees. Archbishop Fisher wove the brew into his homily about the self-sacrificing life of a priest.
“After water, it’s the most consumed beverage on earth by a long shot.
“Coffee is, in fact, humanity’s principal addiction. Many of us need the coffee defibrillator applied to our heart each morning and periodically through the day to keep us going,” he said.
“There’s even a religious order named for the cappuccino.”
He continued: “Giovanni and Jorge, products of the world coffee belt, you now respond, ‘I am the Good Bean.’
“You have been through your own seasons of planting, growth and pruning, years of waiting for flowering and fruit.
“You have been flavoured by your own character and the soils in which you have been planted.
“You have been further refined by the itinerary and communities of the [Neocatechumenal] Way, by your seminary studies and formation, by your experiences of mission – all of these roasting, grinding and brewing you.”
Extending the coffee theme, the archbishop exhorted the two new priests to be faithful apostles.
“Coffee cultivated and refined, you are now ready to be good shepherds, good ambassadors, but also ‘good baristas’. You will offer the golden liquid our minds and hearts need, the caffeine our souls most crave: God and the things of God; prayer and preaching; word and sacrament; mercy and mission.”
At 37.8 degrees, the Friday of the ordination was the hottest day in the Sydney CBD in nearly two years; many of the hundreds of people were fanning themselves with the Mass booklets. The congregation was young, with large families, prams, and wailing babies.
Despite the heat, it was a lively Mass, with a young people’s choir from Neocatechumenal communities from around Australia leading the singing, accompanied by the music of castanets, drums, violins, guitars, and loud rhythmic clapping from the congregation.
The two new priests had received much of their formation at Redemptoris Mater Seminary, in Chester Hill.
Fr Julio Gonzalez found his vocation to the priesthood through his family and Neocatechumenal community in Colombia, Archbishop Fisher said in his homily.
“The sheer joy he saw in a missionary priest challenged his young heart: how could a man, who had given up everything to evangelise in a foreign land, be so happy?”
Fr Mairena Marquez had a different itinerary. He comes from a separated family in Costa Rica. He was working as an electrician but felt a call to the priesthood.
“A steady income and weekend party-life did not satisfy him,” said the archbishop. “And so, in a radical act of trust, he resigned his job to discern his vocation with the Neocatechumens.”
Fr Eric Skruzny, the rector of the seminary, spoke briefly after the ordination.
He said that the two new priests are the 19th and 20th to be ordained after formation at Redemptoris Mater.
Ten more are in training. “We ask you to pray especially for vocations,” said Fr Skruzny.
Around the world, nearly 3,000 priests have been ordained after formation in Neocatechumenal Way seminaries.
Afterwards The Catholic Weekly spoke with las mamás of the new priests, who had come from overseas for the ordinations.
Both said that they were muy feliz, very happy. Perhaps Fr Mairena Marquez’s mother, Juana María, spoke for both of them. “I feel so happy that I think my heart’s going to burst.”
