Two seminarians will ordained deacons by Bishop Daniel Meagher on 21 May at St Mary’s Cathedral at 7.00pm. They have been studying at Redemptoris Mater Seminary to become priests for the Archdiocese of Sydney and to work for the Neocatechumenal Way.
It has been a long journey for the two men, Giovanni Julio, from Colombia, and Jorge Luis Mairena, from Costa Rica. They spoke recently to The Catholic Weekly about how they discovered their vocation.
The example and teachings of the late Pope Francis were inspirational for both of them. “I certainly was struck by the simplicity he had in reaching out to the to the needy, to the broken ones, that he wasn’t afraid to, as he used to say, to get the smell of the sheep,” said Julio.
And Mairena added that Francis’s spirit of detachment and poverty was much like the missionary spirit they had learned in the Neocatechumenal Way.
The two will hopefully be ordained to the priesthood in six months’ time, possibly later this year. After working within the archdiocese for a brief time, they hope to be sent out on mission, even overseas.
Julio grew up in a Neocatechumenal family with four children, but he had his own struggles before responding to his calling. And then he discovered “this good news that Christ loves me the way I am, and this had the power to transform my life.”
And the lives of others, too. The Good News, he said: “is the only thing that can really transform the life of a broken couple that is struggling, the marriage of a boy or a young boy or young girl that wants to commit suicide or doesn’t have meaning in their lives.”
Mairena, who trained as an electrician, had a more unconventional background. His parents never married and he grew up in a blended family without a father. But the experience of suffering helped him to understand the lives of others. “I want to give back what I have received,” he said. “The church has been very generous to me.
“I know what the world is outside. I know it perfectly. And I know that sometimes we can have many things, like money, motorcycles, and sports and I know that they don’t give you happiness.”
Last week they were on a retreat to prepare for their ordination when the news came that Pope Leo XIV had been elected. They were elated. They may have a chance to see him as later in the year they will join a Jubilee Year pilgrimage to Rome with about 500 people from Australia.
Seminary rector Fr Eric Skruzny said 18 men have been ordained as priests since it opened in 2002. Julio and Mairena will be the 19th and 20th. Around the world, nearly 3000 priests have been ordained after formation in Neocatechumenal Way seminaries.
Here in Sydney, the seminarians receive their academic formation in Redemptoris Mater, from the Catholic Institute of Sydney and from the University of Notre Dame Australia. It takes the equivalent of five years’ full-time study to meet all the academic requirements for ordination.
In 2025 the Sydney seminary has ten seminarians from eight different countries: Colombia, Philippines, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru, Kiribati, the United States and Australia.
