By Catholic San Francisco
Friends and family arriving at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption on Saturday, June 7, were welcomed with joyful songs by the Neocatechumenal Communities of San Francisco as the celebrated the new priests of the Archdiocese.
In a solemn Mass, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone ordained deacons Leandro Calingasan and Emmanuel Gutierrez to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and Br. Francis Xavier Khoi Trong Le of the Domus Dei Clerical Society of Apostolic Life, was ordained to the transitional diaconate.
In his homily, Archbishop Cordileone emphasized the call of clergy to be servants of unity and peace, saying, “To believe, teach and put into practice; to understand, imitate and conform his life to the sacrifice of Christ: this is the high calling of the ordained minister.”
“We rejoice with our brothers who today are advanced in Holy Orders, and we pray that God will lavish His grace upon them to be faithful to this responsibility to which He has called them and to which they have willingly responded: that they may model for the Church credibility by the integrity of their identity in Christ, and so lead the Church in being a model of unity for the world here on earth and a bridge to the world that is yet to come,” said the Archbishop.
Br. Francis Xavier, who was ordained a transitional deacon, is a member of Domus Dei, a society of apostolic life founded in 1630 by Jesuit missionary Alexander de Rhodes. The community has a long history of missionary work, particularly in Vietnam. After the Communist division of the country in 1954, Domus Dei members helped Catholic families who fled the North adjust to life in the South. When the Communists overtook the South in 1975, many members of the community fled to the United States, where they continue their mission of evangelization and service.
Following Mass, a reception was held in the Cathedral’s Event Center where Father Calingasan and Father Gutierrez gave their first blessings to family and friends.
