Get to Know the Archdiocese's SIX New Transitional Deacons!
- Denver Catholic Staff
- Mar 11
- 10 min read
Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila ordained six men to the transitional diaconate on Saturday, March 1, the last step of their journey towards priesthood.
We asked the six newest deacons about their vocational journeys, what they're looking forward to, and how God has called them into greater hope during this Jubilee Year of Hope.
Read their responses below, and be sure to join us in praying for them as they conclude their seminary studies and prepare for their priestly ordination next year!
Deacon Manuel Alarcon
Albatera, Alicante, Spain
St. John the Baptist, Johnstown
What are you most looking forward to about being a priest?
I am most looking forward to serving the people of God in the particular church I will be assigned to and to serve the universal Church, especially celebrating the Most Holy Eucharist and helping people through my ministry and Confession.
Tell us about one person - clergy or lay - who inspired you to follow the Lord more closely.
I participate in the Neocatechumenal Way in a particular community both here in Denver and back at home. I was inspired very much by a priest who participates in the Neocatechumenal Way in the same community as my parents back in Spain. He really was an inspiration for me, seeing a happy priest who enjoyed his vocation.
What would you say to someone beginning to follow the Lord and his plan for their lives?
Do not be afraid! The Lord has a beautiful plan prepared for you. God is your Father. He loves you immensely, and he has prepared for you a plan that you do not expect and it is full of beautiful surprises.
How has the Lord called you into greater hope as you have followed him towards your vocation?
The Lord called me during the World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011. I was going through a difficult period in my life in which I did not want to be in the Church and wanted to follow the way of the world. At the time, I was studying art at a school, but I did not know what I wanted for my life, much less what the Lord wanted for me. I went to WYD really asking the Lord for an answer and I found myself so happy all throughout a pilgrimage which my parish organized. At the time, I liked a girl who was in my parish and had also come to that pilgrimage. However, the Lord made me feel so happy that I really saw the need to make a radical change in my life. So, I went to a vocational center where I discerned God's will for a while. Then, eventually, I joined the Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary in Denver. The Lord has shown me his love for me more deeply all these years in the seminary.
Deacon Jason DiRito
Arvada, CO
Shrine of St. Anne Parish, Arvada
What are you most looking forward to about being a priest?
I am looking forward to witnessing God's action in the lives of his people, especially in the Sacrament of Confession.
Tell us about one person - clergy or lay - who inspired you to follow the Lord more closely.
Monsignor Michael Glenn inspired me to follow the Lord more closely through his teaching about intimacy with God through lectio divina. Seeing his absolute trust in Jesus’ goodness to him, even in great suffering, over the last months of his life also had a big impact on me.
What would you say to someone beginning to follow the Lord and his plan for their lives?
The Father's plan for you is only one of blessing!
How has the Lord called you into greater hope as you have followed him towards your vocation?
The Lord has called me to greater hope by showing his trustworthiness and faithfulness by allowing me to leave seminary and return. The Lord, "my allotted portion and my cup," has held fast my lot.
Deacon Jonathan Francois
Cedar Rapids, IA
St. Gianna Beretta Molla Parish, Denver
What are you most looking forward to about being a priest?
I am most looking forward to becoming a spiritual father in the parish. In looking over my life, my most fruitful moments were in the context of serving at Catholic summer camps, teaching confirmation and catechism classes, and leading bible studies for college students. I love bringing my campers and students with me in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in my seminary life, and I constantly remember them in my studies. In trying to put Christ’s mission at the center of my life, he has gifted me the opportunity to become a spiritual mentor and has begun to show me the greatness of becoming a spiritual father. In glimpsing the greatness of spiritual fatherhood, I am confident that the priesthood will continue to deepen and make even more fruitful the spiritual fatherhood that Christ wishes to engender in my life.
Tell us about one person - clergy or lay - who inspired you to follow the Lord more closely.
Entering my freshman year of High School, a woman named Molly Larkin became my youth minister, and she asked me questions about my identity: “Who am I?” “Where am I going?” “What was I made for?”. These questions emboldened me to dig deeper into the ultimate questions that guide our lives. In asking these questions, I came to understand who I am, which prepared me to receive a vocation from Christ. Her witness is one that I will never forget and has left an imprint on me for the rest of my life. She has since become a religious sister with the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George.
What would you say to someone beginning to follow the Lord and his plan for their lives?
Christ has a beautiful plan for your life and desires you to be fruitful: He is the vine, and we are the branches (John 15:5). The fruit that he desires isn’t sterile or ugly. His glory seeks to pervade our lives and elevate us to become ever more captivating and engaging. Christianity is not boring; we cannot even begin to imagine the dynamic power and fruitfulness that he wants to work in our lives. He came to rescue us from death and give us life to the full (John 10:10). We simply need to believe in him and his love, and to respond to that love in turn. As St. John Paul II says, “Life with Christ is a wonderful adventure.”
How has the Lord called you into greater hope as you have followed him towards your vocation?
The past six years of seminary have been filled with countless blessings from God the Father, as well as the apparent challenges and crosses that one usually faces in being given such a beautiful vocation. A quote from Hebrews comes to mind: “The Lord disciplines those whom he loves and receives… God is treating you as sons” (Heb. 12:6-7). To become consecrated for the Church and to sacramentally represent Christ is the greatest gift that I could receive. I’m grateful to God the Father for chastising me and forming me into a small image of his Son.
Deacon Paolo Mori
Cremona, Lombardy, Italy
St. Louis Parish, Englewood
What are you most looking forward to about being a priest?
I want to bring the love of God to the broken-hearted because when I was broken, a priest announced to me that God loves sinners, and this was life-changing for me. I hope that God may work through me to reach the people in the Church through the sacraments and those far away from the Church through the new evangelization.
Tell us about one person - clergy or lay - who inspired you to follow the Lord more closely.
I remember a priest in Italy who still today gives his life totally for evangelization. What inspired me was his constant happiness, even in moments of difficulties. Here in the States, my formators were always models from whom I took a lot of inspiration.
What would you say to someone beginning to follow the Lord and his plan for their lives?
I would say to be open to the grace of God: a little crack in our hearts is enough for the Lord to do miracles in our lives. The Lord is like Gandalf meeting Bilbo for the first time: he is looking for someone to share an adventure with. Since it is God who calls, we do not need to be afraid of the beautiful adventure which is the priesthood.
How has the Lord called you into greater hope as you have followed him towards your vocation?
I was always in the Church, but the sentence “God loves you” became a cliché. When I was 21 years old, in a moment of deep suffering because of my pride, someone announced to me the love of God, and for the first time, I experienced it in a real way. This led me to offer my life to God out of gratitude for his love.
Deacon Daniel Rivas
Denver, CO
Ascension Parish, Denver
What are you most looking forward to about being a priest?
What excites me most about priesthood is sharing, in a small way, in the endless love of God for his people and of Christ for his Church, especially through preaching and reconciliation. This ministry of service only reminds me of what Christ did for me in bringing me into the liberating love and mercy of the Father. I only wish to extend this to others.
Tell us about one person - clergy or lay - who inspired you to follow the Lord more closely.
I honor my father, who once told me, “Everything I have and work for is for you.” His words remind me that no ideal becomes a reality without sacrifice, and I, too, as a priest and spiritual father, will be called to give myself totally to others.
What would you say to someone beginning to follow the Lord and his plan for their lives?
Life without God is so boring. Left to ourselves, we all fall into the same sins, the same vices and the same addictions. Once we let God sweep us into his love, he makes of our lives a unique and beautiful story of hope, conversion and transformation. Ultimately, like stained glass, he will take what is broken and use it for the manifestation of his supreme Goodness and Beauty.
How has the Lord called you into greater hope as you have followed him towards your vocation?
The Lord has deepened my hope by first calling me into intimacy with him and, from this intimacy, to go out and share his love with others through service. In this, God has shown me that he is the vine, and I am the branch, and without him, I can do nothing, but conversely, with him, all things are possible.
Deacon Daniel Viana Pereira
Marilia, São Paulo, Brazil
St. John the Baptist, Johnstown
What are you most looking forward to about being a priest?
I think that what I most look forward to about being a priest is the preaching. By preaching, I do not mean only homilies but also when someone comes for spiritual direction and during Confession. I think that this is a beautiful moment to give others a word about the love and mercy of God, a moment that is not given to many, where the soul of the other person is really seeking for God and receptive to him.
Tell us about one person - clergy or lay - who inspired you to follow the Lord more closely.
I would say the person that inspired me was a layman named Mario Rui. He was a catechist back in Brazil who helped me in a moment of crisis. At that time, I was 14, and I had just read the reading of Matthew 25:31-46, which speaks about those who do not serve others going to Hell. I heard that word and got really sad and discouraged because I realized my sin; I did not desire to serve anyone; my desire was to be someone, to be served, and that is what was in my heart. I could not change it with my own strength. In fact, I believed that God did not love me because I did not desire to serve and that he was sending me to Hell. He gave a word saying that it was not true, that what I had believed was a lie of the devil, a wrong interpretation. This man told me that it was not true, that God loves me and that he is the one that will do the work in me to give me the desire to serve.
What would you say to someone beginning to follow the Lord and his plan for their lives?
I would tell them to rejoice and not to be afraid. It is true that, to the human eye, the path is very dark and uncertain, but God never abandons or deceives, so trust him and push forward. He is faithful to you, so be faithful to him, and when you are not, come back. Also, listen to the Church so that you may not fall into any trap. The devil was the angel of light, and he can trick us easily, so do not be proud, listen to others, especially to the Church.
How has the Lord called you into greater hope as you have followed him towards your vocation?
The first time I felt the Lord's call, it was more like an invitation to follow him. I was 13 and was already thinking about what to do with my life. I went to a yearly retreat that happened in my parish, and there, upon receiving Communion, I decided to follow the Lord. I began to gather every two weeks with a group of men that had felt the same. After a year in this group, I began to see my sins and that I did not like the Mass (I would sleep in every Mass I attended) or prayer that much (I could not even pray a decade of the Rosary). This made me doubt this call, but then, the following year, in the same retreat, I received a word that God loved me the way I was and that I did not need to change in order for him to love me. That touched me deeply, and I received a certainty in my heart that it was true: God really loved me. Then I said, “Lord, if you love that much, do what you want with my life,” and since then, I have received the grace to accept my weakness, to go to Mass and pray the Rosary and to enjoy it.
