CHARLOTTE — Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Charlotte is not just the Diocese of Charlotte’s largest Hispanic parish, or just the church with more programs and services for Latino Catholics than any other, or the church with the highest number of Spanish Masses celebrated weekly.
Since its inception, the parish has stood out as a vocations seedbed that has already produced six men from the Latino community who have been ordained to serve the people of God.
According to Vincentian Father Vincent Finnerty, pastor, the growth of vocations is because “from the beginning we focused not so much on the priestly vocation but on the lay vocation,” by promoting “the participation of laypeople in a process of conversion” with the vision “to concretely be committed to their community and their reality.”
Father Finnerty points out that the Latino community “has its culture, its way of thinking, its way of life, its own way to celebrate life, and it has very strong values as a family and community.” The community also lives continuously “under the radar” and, one way or another, suffers discrimination.
“So what we have tried to do is create an atmosphere of unity, of family, of people feeling at home. And, in fact, many people tell us that this is their second home,” he says.
Father Finnerty recognizes that although the parish tries to serve all people – no matter where they come from or why they are here – “at a certain moment we cannot respond to all the requests, but people know that if they have any need, they can come to ‘La Lupita,’” the nickname parishioners have for Our Lady of Guadalupe.
It is in the reputation of always being available, of welcoming people with love, that Father Finnerty believes people begin to feel “that they want to give more than the lay vocation.” Because “they are born with the desire for mission, they want to give themselves in a fuller, clearer way to their own people,” he notes.
Father Finnerty explains that one of the traits of the Latino community is faith in and respect for its priests. “One can take advantage of this by living on them, or one can really live more humbly to the service of them.” People here observe a different model of priestly ministry, he notes, “very different from the idea we bring from our own countries,” where the “priest is angry all the time, he commands, he has some power over the people” and he does not enjoy a close relationship with his flock.
The parish formerly had a house of discernment on the church campus, which Father Finnerty credits for the focus on vocational discernment. There he was able to advise men curious about the priesthood and provide space for studying, learning English and growing in their faith.
“We sent them to CPCC (Central Piedmont Community College) and at the same time, there was that accompaniment at the spiritual level so they could find out if their path was marriage or the priesthood,” says Father Finnerty, adding that the next step, if a man were inclined towards a priestly vocation, was to send them to New York, where the Vincentian order has a seminary and St. John’s University.
Growth in one’s faith and considering a religious vocation means wrestling with doubt, Father Finnerty notes.
“Everybody doubts their faith. That is good because it allows us to ask questions about our commitment,” he says. “I see it as normal, as a process of human growth. I’m more worried about a boy who does not doubt.”
Father Finnerty focuses on welcoming others just as he was welcomed by the Vincentians.
Born into a family with few resources, he was the seventh of eight children and received a scholarship to study at Niagara University in New York.
With a job as a sacristan to help himself with his studies, he received an invitation that he first rejected, thinking it was not for him. Some months later, the thought was spinning in his head and his heart, so he spoke again with the priest and told him, “Here I am.”
He served in Panama, where he saw close-up the poverty of the people and the commitment of the priests. The experience marked the young man’s life.
“For us Vincentians, evangelizing is also responding to all social needs. It is not just celebrating Mass or the sacraments or evangelizing in that way. It is evangelized through example, of charity towards our neighbor.”
This example, he notes, “helps people to lean toward the priesthood” because they see a different priest who “leaves the church and is responding to what people need.”
The latest vocation to spring from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church is Leo Tiburcio, 41, who has just returned to Charlotte after being ordained a transitional deacon on May 26 at Sacred Heart Church in Oxford, Pa.
Born in Santa María Zacatepec, Cholula, state of Puebla in Mexico, from a family of nine children, he left his home at the age of 16 in 1994 to work in restaurants in New York in order to help his family financially. He moved to Atlanta, then to Charlotte. Once in Charlotte, he began attending Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.
A few months later he was invited, with three other young people, to be part of the house of discernment. But he rejected the idea outright.
“I do not want to be a priest, I want to get married,” he told the pastor. However, the seed had been planted.
He soon decided to dedicate his life to God and went to New York for his formation. After his ordination as a deacon two weeks ago, he has come back to Charlotte for the summer, where he says he is “happy to preach what God has nourished in me these years.” He will serve at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church this summer before returning to his priestly formation studies in New York this fall.
For Deacon Tiburcio, the special welcome he felt at “La Lupita” is what first attracted him to the priesthood.
“The humane treatment, the love of the living God. From when they answered the phone when I called for information, until the retreat, the youth group, the pastor, everything,” he says. “It’s like they said,
‘First we’re going to love you and then you’ll discover God’s love by yourself.’ ”
— Cesar Hurtado, Hispanic Reporter