Two Alumni Ordained to Transitional Diaconate in LA!

At a Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles on Saturday morning, a bishop asked seven men — including two Thomas Aquinas College alumni — to make the Promise of Elect. All seven replied, “I do.”

Minutes later, the candidates knelt, one by one, before the Most Rev. Brian Nunes, Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, who laid his hands upon them, thus ordaining the young men to the transitional diaconate. By God’s grace, these newly ordained deacons will become priests of the Catholic Church next spring.

The College’s two new alumni deacons, Rev. Mr. Paul Collins (’14) and Rev. Mr. Jorge Moncada Hernandez (’18), will now spend six months working in L.A. parishes, a final preparation for their priestly duties. Both will then go on to serve in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, but Deacon Collins’s tenure will be short-lived: After a few years of parish life, he will go on to serve members of the U.S. Navy as a military chaplain. His future bishop, the Most Rev. Timothy Broglio — Archbishop of the Military Services, USA, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the 2024 Convocation Speaker at Thomas Aquinas College, California — was on hand for the solemn occasion.

“What I see in the missionary life is going to people where they’re at, especially bringing the peace of Christ to people in difficult circumstances,” Deacon Collins told Angelus News.

“I want to tell people that God loves them,” says Deacon Moncada. “I think that’s a problem we face nowadays; we don’t understand the Father’s love. We try to find it somewhere else — friendships, addictions, you name it. I want to bring the Father’s love to the people who desperately need it.”

Video of the Ordination Mass can be seen in the player below.

Deo gratias!