CHARLOTTE — On June 1, the Congregation of the Mission celebrated the priestly ordination of Luis Romero and Leo Tiburcio, the first two men ordained in the Eastern Province since 2010.
Vincentian Father Alfonso Cabezas, Bishop Emeritus of Villavicencio, Colombia, presided over the ordination at the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal in Philadelphia. For the two men, the occasion marked the culmination of 10 years of rigorous theological study, instruction in Vincentian spirituality and work in the order, which was founded by St. Vincent de Paul.
Father Leo Tiburcio’s first assignment will be at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Charlotte, where he first discerned his priestly vocation years ago.
Leo Tiburcio Ordaz was born in 1978 in Santa María Zacatepec, Cholula, Puebla, México.
The third of nine children of Felipe Tiburcio and Herlinda Ordaz, he left México in 1994 to go to New York, where for more than six years he worked in Turkish restaurants, until the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 meant the end of his job.
Looking for new horizons, he traveled to Atlanta, where he settled for two years and continued to work in restaurants. At the end of 2004, he requested a job transfer to Charlotte, but after arriving he had a hard time trying to find a local church where he could practice his faith. God led him to the parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe, he said.
After assisting at a men’s retreat and joining the parish’s youth group, he received an invitation from Father Vincent Finnerty, then pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to enter a house of discernment.
His answer was simply: “Father, I do not want to be a priest; I rather want to get married and have children.” But after much thought, he entered the house of discernment in 2005, only to leave after six months.
Sick and stressed out, Tiburcio decided to earn his GED and take English classes. He returned to work and started dating a girl – but he could not ignore God’s whispering to him, calling him to the priesthood. Confused, he decided to speak with Father Finnerty again.
“God is calling you for a vocation that is not marriage, but you are free to say yes or no,” the pastor told him.
Two months later, he returned to Father Finnerty but this time his discernment process would be more serious: he would enter the Vincentians’ seminary in New York.
In 2014, Tiburcio moved to Philadelphia, where he completed his studies and pronounced his temporary vows. In 2018, he offered his perpetual vows and was ordained to the transitional diaconate.
The day after his priestly ordination in Philadelphia, Father Tiburcio came home to Charlotte and offered his first Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church – side by side with the other Vincentian priests of the parish: Father Finnerty, Father Hugo Medellín and Father Gregorio Gay.
Father Finnerty delivered the homily, his final one to the parishioners whom he has served for many years in the Diocese of Charlotte. Father Finnerty is retiring and leaving after 24 years for a small parish in Alabama.
He offered many recommendations to the new Father Tiburcio, joked with him and greeted the young priest’s family.
At the end of the Mass, Father Tiburcio addressed a few words to parishioners. After thanking them “for the faith you put in me” since his arrival to the parish in 2004, he recognized the support of his parents, who instilled in him the faith from his childhood, and especially to Father Finnerty, who supported and encouraged his call to a religious vocation.
Then the young priest showed everyone the greeting card that parishioners had given him in 2009, before he left for the seminary in New York. He has kept it all these years: “There are many beautiful things that you told me here, your prayers, your support,” he told them.
Then he took a white cloth from his pocket – the maniturgium, a white linen cloth that the newly ordained priest’s hands are wrapped with after being anointed by the bishop in the ordination rite.
Father Tiburcio started to explain, “When my mom comes to God’s presence, God will say, ‘I gave you life, what have you given Me?’ Then she is going to take out this cloth and will say, ‘I gave you my son’ and then ... Mom,” but he became too emotional to continue. He went to embrace his mother, who was crying as she listened to the words of her son.
After the Mass, Father Tiburcio was greeted by parishioners and everyone enjoyed a lunch prepared by the parish.
— César Hurtado, Hispanic reporter
