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Two young priests lead central Phoenix parishes to deeper spirituality, ministry
By J.D. Long-García
The Catholic Sun
A couple of new, foreign-born priests in their 20s are now responsible for parish life at two locations in central Phoenix.
Incarnate Word Fathers Humberto Villa and Librado Godinez have been serving Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Anthony parishes for the past two months.
“Our basic mission is to bring the Gospel to all levels of our culture,” said Fr. Villa, the parishes’ new Argentine pastor.
While the two young priests acknowledge the difficulty of their mission, they believe spending an hour before the Blessed Sacrament each morning gives them the strength they need.
“You can give from yourself, but to give Christ you must have Christ,” Fr. Villa said of the daily morning adoration. “It isn’t something you learn from a book, it’s something you have from experience.”
Fr. Miguel Buela founded the Institute of the Incarnate Word in Argentina in 1984. The institute seeks to inculturate the Gospel and prolong Christ’s incarnation for the world.
While this is Fr. Godinez’s first assignment since being ordained a priest in Mexico last December, he believes it can be done in prayer.
“We will be able to accomplish this mission in so far as we live our charism, which is the charism of the order,” the 28-year-old associate pastor said. “It’s a mission entrusted to the institute, not to my person.”
In addition to taking vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, Incarnate Word priests take a vow of slavery to Mary. They believe that by taking this vow — as prescribed by St. Louis de Montfort — Mary will help them in their mission of prolonging the Incarnation.
“Everything we do we try to relate to the Virgin Mary,” Fr. Villa said. During the Mass, after communion, the priests renew their vows to Our Lady.
The institute also inculturates the Gospel by teaching classes on music, art, the Bible and the catechism and by keeping informed of Vatican teaching.
Fr. Villa said the institute is in the middle stages of becoming an order and the next would be a provision from the pope.
The 26-year-old pastor said many of his parishioners have family problems.
“Most of them are married in the Church, but some were misled along the way with adultery or alcoholism or something else,” Fr. Villa said. “One of the things we have to do is work to strengthen families. That will help a lot.”
He’s also looking forward to having another priest around the parishes, something that could happen as early as this summer.
“People haven’t come to confession in a long time. You ask why and most of them say because there’s only one day scheduled for confession,” Fr. Villa said.
“In confession you can help them form their conscience, you can follow them in their daily life,” he said.
Both priests noted the vitality of the parishes’ youth groups.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm. What one has to do is walk with them and support them,” Fr. Godinez said of the youth.
He said he was surprised to find the youth’s energy because in Argentina, where he served as a seminarian, “you always had to be with the youth, pushing them.”
Both Fr. Villa and Fr. Godinez joined the Institute of the Incarnate Word after being involved with youth groups themselves.
Fr. Villa said the youth “move by themselves, but they need someone to lead them spiritually.”
“It’s not a matter of doing things,” he said. “It’s a matter of being led to heaven.”
Oscar Coctecon, who works with the youth group at St. Anthony’s, noted the priests involvement.
“They’re coming to the events and are interested in walking with us,” he said. “They said that we shouldn’t wait until Saturday to go to confession. They’re making themselves available.”
Dave Rocha, whose family helped found Immaculate Heart, said the community is making adjustments, but that on the whole it’s going very well.
“They’re a little more involved that the priests in the past,” he said.
“He’s very young and he’s very dynamic,” he said of Fr. Villa. “He wants to get things moving and we appreciate that.”
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