and Juan Pablo Rubio Ordained
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| Fr. Tim Zak, provincial; Fr. J.P. Rubio; Bp. Manny Cruz; Fr. Eddy Chincha |
Frs. Eduardo Chincha and Juan Pablo Rubio were ordained to
the presbyterate on Saturday, June 8, at Our Lady of the Valley Church in
Orange. Auxiliary Bishop Manuel A. Cruz of Newark was the ordaining prelate,
and in his love for the Salesians fulfilled that office with enthusiastic joy.
The parish church was filled with over 400 people—Salesians
and other members of the Salesian Family, family and friends of the ordinands,
and youngsters from the Salesian works at Orange, New Rochelle, and Port
Chester, where the newly ordained served in the past.
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Bp. Cruz anointing with sacred chrism
the hands of newly-ordained Fr. Eddie Chincha.
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Fr. Eddie Chincha, 30, was influenced to enter the Salesians in
2009 by his encounters with them at Holy Rosary Parish in Port Chester, where
his family were parishioners for years. (They have since moved.) He made his first
profession of vows in 2011. He has been assigned to Mary Help of Christians
Center in Tampa for his first priestly ministry.
Fr. J.P. Rubio, 43, lived with his parents and family in Sturgis, Mich., where
an assistant pastor was a former Salesian who influenced his vocational choice,
as did two Salesian vocation directors. He entered formation in 2007 and
professed vows in 2010. He has been assigned to St. John Bosco Parish in
Chicago for his first priestly ministry.
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Fr. J.P. Rubio's moment of ordination
by the imposition of hands
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Both confreres did their practical training at
Salesian High School in New Rochelle from 2013 to 2015 and completed their priestly studies at Immaculate
Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., from 2015 to 2019.
Bp. Manny Cruz’s homily was centered on the priest as a
minister of divine compassion. Recalling his witness of a final profession of
some Dominican nuns who were asked in the rite, “What do you want?”—the
response being, “I want the mercy of God”—he stated that deep in their hearts
the ordinands are asking for mercy because we’re all sinners who are seeking
God’s love and mercy. He told the priest-to-be that they’d come “to this house
of God knowing that he has called you by name to serve him, to respond to his
mercy, to feed us with the Body and Blood of his Son, to love us as Christ
loves us.”
A prominent part of the ordination rite is that the
ordinands prostrate themselves while the congregation prays the Litany of the
Saints. The bishop explained the prostration as a symbol of humility and
complete self-emptying by which the candidates pledge to put God first in their
lives. He said that by the laying on of hands God would transform their hearts
forever, so that in spite of their human limitations they will have the faith
and humility to invite God to send them forth to proclaim the Gospel of life
and the power of Christ crucified. On the cross Christ completely surrendered
himself to the Father, and that’s what the prostration means, what the people
of God are praying for, for the ordinands—that they might be instruments of the
divine compassion and, in this world full of doubt, be signs that God remains
with us and has not left us orphans.
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| Fr. Eddie Chincha |
Bp. Cruz urged the ordinands always to go back to the
Gospels whenever, like the apostles they may be fearful; there they will touch
the wounded heart of Christ and find the spiritual resources to bring the
compassionate and forgiving heart of Christ to the faithful in every
sacramental anointing, every confession they’ll hear. As they’ll celebrate the
Eucharist, saying, “This is my Body; this is my Blood,” they’ll be reminded to
conform their lives to Christ in their prayer, service, and personal
relationship with him, so that others will see in them another Christ. He
advised them always to visit the sick and to be available to hear confessions,
for people need forgiveness.
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| Fr. Juan Pablo Rubio |
Finally, the bishop affirmed that we’re all called to
receive mercy and to embrace conversion—daily putting Christ at the center of
our lives.
Some photos from the ordination:
Some photos from the ordination:
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