CONGRATULATIONS, BEST WISHES AND LOADS OF PRAYERS FROM ALL OF US TO OUR TWO NEWLY ORDAINED PRIESTS.

The Ordinations were on Saturday, May 23, 2009

at:

 Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral, San Bernardino.

From the Diocese - one is a Vietnamese immigrant with a Dominican Order background while the other is a Southern California native who prolonged the inevitable.

Manuel Cardoza and Tong Nguyen are recent transitional deacons. If you want an adventure that you will never forget, this is it," Cardoza said of joining the priesthood.

Cardoza’s adventure in aspiring to be a priest began at age 19. The idea came to him one night while lying in bed. Cardoza knew he wanted to help people, but didn’t consider the priesthood as a logical way of doing so.

 An array of other signs emerged, including an interest in Church history, dreams of the priesthood, people approaching him with spiritual questions, and the constant stream of people asking him if he was undergoing formation.

 "There were too many signs. I said, ‘Okay, Jesus you win,’" Cardoza said.

 He credits the formation process for helping him integrate to a communal setting. Cardoza said his time at Junipero Serra House of Formation in Grand Terrace and Assumption Seminary and Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas helped him not only with theological studies but with preparation for a life as a servant of the Church.

We were all entering into the house with a same goal and desire. That was instrumental in transitioning into a life of a seminarian," Cardoza said.

 During his formation from 2002 to the present, Cardoza has spent time working at a hospital in northern California as a chaplain and at Christ the Good Shepherd Parish in Adelanto. Both locations gave him valuable experience that he expects to use when in his ministry.

 Under Very Rev. Michael Lama, V.F., Cardoza witnessed the duties of the vicar forane, the priest who is designated by Bishop Gerald Barnes to convene pastors and pastoral coordinators of a particular geographic area or, vicariate, in the diocese.

 "It was a great opportunity to see how priests interact with each other," Cardoza said. "It surprised me to see that kind of fraternity between them in the High Desert. Hopefully I will have that kind of fraternity where I am placed."

***

Tong Nguyen began thinking about joining the priesthood when he was 12 years old. His parish priest in Vietnam spoke passionately for vocations on Sundays.

"I had the idea but I didn’t understand what it meant to be a priest until now," Nguyen said.

Nguyen’s journey to becoming a priest has not been a typical one. Although he had decided at a young age that a religious life was for him, he wasn’t convinced that it would involve him being a priest. He joined the Dominican Order as a religious brother and went into formation under the order for seven years.

"I left the order because I felt the call to the diocese," Nguyen said.

With formation from both a diocesan perspective and a religious order perspective, Nguyen said he has received the best of both worlds. He said he is confident that he can use both perspectives to be a better priest.

"The Dominican Order has a different schedule and a different framework for spiritual life," Nguyen said. "The diocesan formation is focused on contact, ministering to the people."

Nguyen was recently ordained a transitional deacon in March and has been serving at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in La Quinta.

"I adopted St. Francis as my home parish and they fully support me," Nguyen said. "I feel so great because I see people supporting me and praying for me to further my vocation."

Both Nguyen and Cardoza contemplated and prayed for help before deciding to answer the call to the priesthood. As they are ordained priests, they encourage others who may be thinking about the priesthood, or who have been noticing signs, to be open to the idea.

 "Ask God the question: What is it that you want from me? And the answer may surprise you," Cardoza said.