5 New Salesians for New Rochelle Province

5 New Salesians for New Rochelle Province

On August 15, Bros. Carlos Cerda Gutierrez, Lorenzo Carlo D’Alessandro, Nicholas Kurt Jandernoa, Christo Ruben Philistin, and Jieo Aleksander Tecson made their first religious profession as Salesians of Don Bosco during a celebration of the Eucharist in the chapel of the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Haverstraw, N.Y.

Fr. Dominic Tran, SDB, provincial, presided at the Mass and received the vows of the 5 young men. They had completed a year of novitiate at the Salesian house of formation in Richmond, Calif., under the guidance of Fr. Joseph Thinh Nguyen, master of novices. (The novitiate is located on the campus of Salesian High School in Richmond.)

Bro. Carlos professed as a Salesian coadjutor brother, while the other 4 men will study for eventual ordination as priests (God willing). All 5 will continue their formation at the Salesian house in Orange, N.J., including studies at Seton Hall University in South Orange.

Concelebrating priests praying for those to be professed

Bro. Carlos Cerda, 25, was born in Moroleon, Guanajuato, Mexico, and entered the Salesians from Lockport, Ill.; he was a member of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Joliet. He had been introduced to the Salesians by a Carmelite brother in the parish who was particularly close to the young people of the parish. He came to the Salesian formation house in Orange, N.J., in August 2021. His discernment also included a year of prenovitiate formation at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., in 2023-2024.

Bro. Carlos discerned a calling to be a brother so that he can become “a friendly role model for other young people” and witness to the “call given by God to men who seek to dedicate themselves totally to God in community, living out the lay dimension of our Baptism,” particularly through the evangelical counsels. Bro. Carlos will pursue a bachelor’s degree in Spanish at Seton Hall, aiming eventually to teach at one of our Salesian schools. He aspires to touch the lives of many young people by listening to them and sharing their joys and challenges; to accompany young people at risk “by providing suitable trade skills”; and eventually to become a formator of men in initial Salesian formation.

Bro. Carlos found the best part of his novitiate year in the time spent in community with his novice classmates as well as the days designated for silence and prayer.

Parents of the new brothers stood and were applauded.

Bro. Lorenzo D’Alessandro, 27, comes from Vancouver, B.C., where he and his family belonged to St. Jude Parish. His parents are Robert D’Alessandro and Charlotte Carlos. He has a younger brother. Lorenzo came to the Salesians after 5 years as a diocesan seminarian, during which he earned a B.A. in philosophy. He had been influenced by one of his parish priests whose “example of holiness rubbed off on me, especially his love for sacred music and love for the liturgy as a whole.” In both high school and college, he found the Benedictine seminary rectors to be “men of great faith and intellect. Both showed me the beauty, ardour, and rigours of both consecrated life and intellectual life.”

Lorenzo desired to work with the young and to live a consecrated life in community, which he had witnessed with the Benedictines. A friend told him about the Salesians; he says, “It was as if God was saying to me, ‘There’s a religious order for that!’”

So Lorenzo began as a Salesian candidate in August 2022 at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey but had to return to Canada a few months later (visa issue), where he resumed his candidacy at St. Benedict, the Salesian parish in Etobicoke, Ont. He began prenovitiate there in 2023 but was able to return to Ramsey in January 2024 to complete the prenovitiate program. At the Prep, he was chaplain for some of the sports teams and the soup kitchen, and he also taught CCD at St. John Bosco Parish in Port Chester, N.Y., on a weekly basis.

During his novitiate year in Richmond, Lorenzo found greatest satisfaction in “being able to assimilate and live out Salesian values on a more concrete level, as well as being able to get to know the students in school, mainly through coaching.”

Following his religious profession, Bro. Lorenzo will take courses in school and sports psychology at Seton Hall while preparing spiritually for perpetual profession and intellectually “to implement his studies into daily life personally, ministerially, and communally.” He sees himself ministering as a teacher, coach, and counselor.

The Eucharistic Prayer

Bro. Nicholas Jandernoa, 26, is from Pewamo, Mich., where his family are members of St. Joseph’s Parish. His parents are Bruce and Gail Jandernoa, and he has one older brother and three younger sisters.

Nicholas spent two years as a NET Missionary, which helped him to be open to consecrated life: “I discovered that I had a passion for working with young people and that God has chosen to work through me to show his love to the young.” He already knew about Don Bosco and admired how the saint used sports and magic tricks to grab young people’s attention and then bring them to Jesus. So he was attracted to the Salesians, where “I could serve young people and be involved with sports and games while also being consecrated to God.”

Nicholas became a candidate in Orange in January 2021 and a prenovice at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey in 2022-2023. He continued prenovitiate in Orange in 2023-2024. He aspires in these next couple of years “to grow in my love for Jesus, to whom I am consecrated, and to live out the Salesian Constitutions, which I have professed to live.” He has found his religious vocation “anything but boring,” an “exciting adventure full of love” that he hopes other young people will consider.

Salesian sisters and novices

Bro. Christo Ruben Philistin, 23, was born in Cap Haitien, Haiti, and is the son of Amos and Lunie Joseph Philistin, who now live in Brockton, Mass. He has an older sister. An aunt who is a nun introduced him to the Salesians in his hometown. He writes that she “greatly influenced me through her spiritual way of life. The priest of my parish, as well as the Salesians from the community in my hometown, have also had a significant impact on me, particularly through their sense of family, which has left a deep mark on my journey.”

Christo became a candidate in Cap Haitien in February 2020. In September 2022 he became a prenovice in the Salesian house in Thorland, Haiti, then began a year of novitiate in Mexico, where the Haiti Vice Province sends its men. After his parents moved to the U.S., his provincial facilitated his transfer to the U.S. novitiate so that he could be nearer to them.

He adds: “I wanted to become a Salesian to answer a call greater than myself, something deep within my heart urging me to be completely with God and for God voluntarily. Additionally, out of love for being with and serving the young, it has been the perfect match” so that he can “be with God and serve youth in the footsteps of Don Bosco.”

He says that he thoroughly enjoyed his novitiate year—community outings, the novice master’s conferences, opportunities for ministry. “The best part was the time we spent simply being together as a community, hanging out, sharing laughter, and watching movies.”

Bro. Christo aspires to deepen his relationship with God and engage in apostolic service to the young. In particular, “I would like to be a music teacher because I truly believe that music can lead young people to Jesus. I also feel that I can use my talent to inspire and accompany them on their journey of faith through music.”

Fr. Dominic welcomes everyone as Mass begins

Bro. Jieo Aleksander Tecson, 24, is a native of Quezon City, Philippines. His parents are Gaudencio and Maria Cristina Tecson, and he has a twin sister and a younger brother. They immigrated to Calgary, Alberta, and became involved in St. Patrick’s and Holy Spirit parishes there.

Altho Jieo’s father went to a Salesian school in the Philippines, Jieo discovered the Salesians by reading about Don Bosco and then seeing the movie St. John Bosco: Mission to Love, which suggested to him that he might become a priest like Don Bosco, caring compassionately for the young. After he’d started at university, he was investigating possibilities for religious life and contacted the Salesian vocation director in Canada. In the Salesians he found 4 of his personal desires: missions, priesthood, youth work, and religious devotion.

Thus Jieo became a candidate at Orange in August 2022 and a prenovice at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey in August 2023. During his prenovitiate year, he taught catechism at St. John Bosco Parish in Port Chester, N.J.

“The best part of my novitiate year,” says Bro. Jieo, “was the spirit of brotherhood I experienced with my fellow novices, in moments both of praying and of playing.” He also found a lot of satisfaction in ministry to the students at Salesian College Prep, adjacent to the novitiate house.

Back in Orange for postnovitiate formation, he “hopes to deepen my relationship with God, better assimilate the spirit of Don Bosco, and continue cultivating my skills for ministry among the young. With God’s help, I wish to become more and more conformed to Christ, especially in his obedience, poverty, and chastity, and to learn truly what it means to be a sign and bearer of his love for young people.” Further down the road, Bro. Jieo hopes that he might become a missionary in some foreign land. “Most of my favourite saints were missionaries (the Canadian Martyrs among them!),” he states. But his ultimate aspiration is to become a saint.

The Eucharistic Celebration

Fr. Dominic starting the homily

40 priests concelebrated the profession Mass, assisted by over 200 members of the Salesian Family, family members of the newly professed, students from Salesian schools, and other friends.

Introducing the Mass of Our Lady’s Assumption, Fr. Dominic (in three languages) voiced thanks to God for calling us, thanks to our mother Mary, thanks to our brothers for their “yes” to God, and thanks to their parents—who were commended a couple more times during the rites.

Fr. Dominic’s homily focused on God’s initiative. On our own, he said, we’d never be ready to do God’s work. The Virgin Mary shows us that he can do great things in us, which he illustrated thru several of Mary’s virtues and applied them to religious life.

Fr. Dominic concluded by linking the day’s rite with two historical events of 2025: the 150th anniversary of the first Salesian missionary expedition (1875) and the Church’s jubilee year. Don Bosco told the first missionaries that they would be doing God’s work; doing God’s work unites all of us wherever we may be. The theme of the jubilee is hope. A Salesian, said the preacher, is always cheerful because he or she bears Good News. With God we have hope and can do great things.

A New Batch of Novices

Meanwhile, in Richmond, Calif., five men began a year of novitiate on August 14. Two of them are from the New Rochelle Province, one from the San Francisco Province, and two from the Irish Province.

Photos: https://link.shutterfly.com/SFm4RH03UVb

Most of the SDBs present posed after Mass.