Dear friends,

Here at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, my mission as I see it, and as I have shared with you several times, is to guide every one of you who walks through our doors toward the path of eternal life with God, in other words, to heaven. As your pastor, I am committed to facilitating this journey through creating an environment for holistic education, sacramental preparation and celebration, and a lively worship experience. One vital aspect of this mission, which I would like to focus on in this article, is the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, commonly referred to now as OCIA, formerly RCIA.

Dear friends,

As I reflect on this month of July, I'm filled with great joy and gratitude for the blessings I have received in my life and also for the gift of our parish, whose feast we always celebrate this month. This weekend specifically marks for me two significant anniversaries – the day I arrived in the United States to begin my pastoral ministry in the Diocese of Phoenix on July 19, 2004, and my priestly ordination 34 years ago, on July 20, 1991. These two years have had a deep impact on my priestly ministry here among you in ways I cannot express.

Dear OLMC,

As I come to the middle of my summer assignment here at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, I have had the opportunity to reflect on my experiences, which I would like to share with you in this short article.

Under the mentorship of Father Robert Aliunzi, our Pastor, it has been so far a grace-filled time of learning how Jesus reveals His pastoral heart in a living, vibrant parish community, and I have enjoyed every bit of it.

When we hear the word ordinary, we often think of terms like typical, routine, or even boring. So why would the Church set aside an entire season called Ordinary Time?

In the context of the church’s Liturgical Year, ordinary doesn't imply dullness or lack of significance. Instead, it comes from the word ordinal, meaning numbered or sequential. That’s why we hear references such as the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, and so on. (Interestingly, there’s no First Sunday in Ordinary Time—it's replaced by the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.) Ordinary Time isn’t about ranking importance but simply refers to the sequence of Sundays that fall outside the Church’s major liturgical seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter.

Dear Friends,

The month of June (dedicated to the two hearts: The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary) is coming to an end, but God's Love has no end! May the Heart of Jesus, formed in the womb of the Virgin Mother by the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.

The heart is one of the symbols that is to be found throughout the world. It is a symbol of love.

Dear friends,

Saints Peter and Paul, whose feasts we celebrate this weekend, are perhaps two of the greatest apostles, though called under different circumstances. Their feast, this year, is one of those liturgical feasts that replaces what should have been the ordinary Sunday of the Year, in this case, the Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I greet you all and wish you good health and happiness. When I visited Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in early 2023 and stayed for two months, I so enjoyed my stay with you that I could not hide my wish to one day be part and parcel of your faith Community. By God’s grace, this wish has been granted to me, and I am so grateful to God and to all those who made this possible. I am so excited to be among you. Here is something brief about myself:

Dear Friends,

Every year, during summer, the vocations office of the Diocese of Phoenix assigns theology seminarians to certain selected parishes so as to experience what a typical parish life looks like. Our parish has been fortunate to have been selected two years in a row, beginning with seminarian Max Rich last year. This year, we are blessed with the assignment of seminarian Steven Gutierrez, who will be with us from June 2 - August 4. This is an opportunity for us as a parish to participate in a crucial stage of his formation for the priesthood.

Dear Friends,

“The Holy Spirit leads us like a mother. He leads His child by the hand…as a sighted person leads a blind person.” -Saint John Vianney

As I grow in my journey of faith, discernment of God’s will, and in my relationship to God as an adopted son through Jesus Christ and as one of his little priests, I continue to learn how to trust in his providence. In the good, the bad, and the ugly of life the Lord has worked to bring me to where I am today and to embolden me in my faith.

One of the greatest things that has happened to our beloved parish this year is the official commencement of perpetual Adoration in our Divine Mercy Perpetual Adoration Chapel on April 21, 2025. I feel so blessed that the Lord gave me the privilege of ensuring that this tremendous treasure of our parish was built. I am so grateful that he used me. Since its opening, we have not only had a record of over 350 committed adorers but also Adoration going on uninterrupted 24/7.

Dear Friends,

I joined the priests of our diocese for our annual retreat two weeks ago in my favorite retreat center, the Redemptorist Retreat Center at Picture Rocks in Tucson. Each time I go there, I am inspired by the words written near the tabernacle, which read: “The Desert will lead you to your heart where I will speak.” However, though the retreat was very inspiring and our retreat director, Fr. Lorenzo, was very engaging, this time, nothing struck a particular chord in me to validate this sentence until a brief encounter with a couple I met on the last day of my retreat at the reception.

Dear Friends,

When the announcement of the new pope was made on May 8th, I was in a hospital bed in the emergency room battling an illness. All of a sudden, my phone went ballistic with messages informing me of who the new pope is - Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, an American-born Augustinian missionary! What? I unconsciously reacted. At a human level, I was thrilled that the new pope and I both share the name Robert and both of us are Americans of dual citizenship. But I was also shocked, like I believe many were, because though holding a prominent position in the Vatican, little was known about him. Besides, many more still never expected an American to become a pope at this time.

The first U.S.-born cardinal, Robert Francis Prevost, has been named the Roman pontiff on Thursday, taking the name Leo XIV.

Following the opening Mass (The Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff) on Wednesday, 133 cardinals entered the Sistine Chapel later that day to begin the conclave. To elect a new pope, a two-thirds majority was required, meaning at least 89 votes were needed out of 133 electors. On Thursday afternoon in Rome, the white smoke indicated the new pope had been selected.

Dear friends,

The past thirteen or so days have been marked by significant events that have rocked the world to its core. First, though expected, was the horrific death of our Lord Jesus Christ and his glorious resurrection three days later on Easter Sunday. Just as the Christian world was rejoicing and celebrating this centuries-old momentous event, Pope Francis died the next day on Easter Monday.