PHOTOS: Denver’s Two New Priests to Bring Hope to a Hurting World
- André Escaleira, Jr.
- Sep 24
- 6 min read
As he nears his potential retirement, Archbishop Aquila ordained Father Daniel Viana Pereira and Father Paolo Mori, sending them out to serve at a time of trial.
Over the last few weeks, the country, the Church and the world have seen a great amount of turmoil: the assassination of Charlie Kirk and subsequent division over his legacy; the attacks in Evergreen and Minneapolis; the strife in the Middle East.
Amid that darkness, a ray of light — or, more properly speaking, two rays of light — shone in the heart of Denver on Saturday, as Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila ordained Father Daniel Viana Pereira and Father Paolo Mori priests of the Archdiocese of Denver.
The two ordinations come at an encouraging time for vocations in the Archdiocese of Denver. The recent entering class at St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver was the largest in seminary history. The Archdiocese’s Called By Name campaign last spring saw 900 nominations of young men that could make good, holy and happy priests — the most of any archdiocese to date. A subsequent “Come and See” discernment retreat welcomed nearly 100 men to the seminary to discern God’s will for their lives.
At the same time, the ordinations fell mere days before Archbishop Aquila’s 75th birthday, when, per canon law, he is to submit his request to retire to Pope Leo XIV, potentially making these two new priests the last ones he will ordain for the Archdiocese of Denver.
It might be an understatement to say there is a lot going on — in our communities, archdiocese, state, country, Church and world. The day is filled with any number of reasons for concern, just as it is filled with great reason for hope. It should not surprise us, the archbishop noted in his homily, that the apostolic age we live in is filled with challenges: confusion, division, abandonment of God and the worship of false gods.
“The Lord warns his disciples in his time, and the words are still valid for us today: ‘I am sending you like lambs among wolves,’” Archbishop Aquila said. “And my sons, we have seen that in the last two weeks, with the assassination of Charlie Kirk, with the again tragic shooting of young people, we live among wolves. We live among people who are filled with hatred. We live among people who have no respect for the dignity of human life, who fail to see that every human being, no matter who that human being is, even if it is an enemy, that they are created in the image and likeness of God.”
But that warning does not absolve the archdiocese’s two newest priests — or, indeed, any of us, whether clergy, religious or lay — from the imperative to go out on mission, proclaiming the Gospel.
“It is the wolves who are in the greatest need of hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ,” the archbishop continued. “They do not know, nor have they received, but they have resisted the love of the Father, the love of Jesus and the love of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord tells us, no matter where we go, we are to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand. And no matter where you go, whether it is in parish ministry, whether it is on mission or itinerancy, that is your task: to be those who proclaim the Kingdom of God.”
(Photos by Daniel Petty/Denver Catholic)
Just as he called those gathered to preach the Gospel in season and out of season, Archbishop Aquila also emphasized the imperative to pray for and foster vocations, no matter one's state in life.
"How often do we ask the harvest master to send out laborers for the harvest?" the archbishop asked, drawing on the famous abundant-harvest-but-few-laborers Gospel reading.
"My vocation director complains to me that I pray too much, and I keep him too busy," the archbishop continued, with a chuckle and a smile. "But that is okay. It is an answer to my prayer that I make every day that the seed of a vocation to the priesthood is planted in the hearts of young men. That the seed of a vocation to the consecrated or religious life is planted in the hearts of young women and men. That the seed of a vocation is planted in the hearts of young men and women who enter the sacrament of marriage and who beget children for the Kingdom of God. It is essential that we pray for vocations, especially in a world that is so resistant to the vocations of priesthood, religious life and, yes, even marriage."
Having received formation at Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary in Denver, the new archdiocesan priests will serve as missionaries of God’s love, mercy and truth in the archdiocese and beyond — even amid trying times — always preaching the person of Jesus Christ.
“You are to preach Jesus Christ, and you are to act, as St. Paul reminds us, as slaves for the sake of Jesus. Those can be very hard words for us today, but the Lord demands it of us. He speaks of the narrow way. He speaks of laying down our lives as he has laid down his life,” Archbishop Aquila said. “Our Lord never speaks of entitlement, of saying, ‘I will only go here or there.’ But, as we hear in the Gospel, he sends his disciples out everywhere to prepare the world and people for him.”
No matter where the new priests are sent — whether on the I-25 corridor, the Western Slope, the Eastern Plains or to some other state or country, Archbishop Aquila said, their mission remains the same: to bring the person of Jesus to his people.
“You are called to be a slave for the sake of Jesus. You are called to go,” Archbishop Aquila continued. “It is Jesus Christ whom you are to bring, not focusing on yourself but giving yourself to the surpassing power of God. It is God who will form your heart and your mind the more you surrender to him.”
As they begin their priestly ministry of teaching, preaching and celebrating the sacraments, the new priests must grow in that very surrender, Archbishop Aquila exhorted.
“It is important for you in your own prayer life to strive for holiness, to grow in holiness, to give yourself completely to the Trinity and to those you serve,” he said, pointing to John the Baptist as an exemplar. “My dearest sons, it is important for you to understand each time you pray the words that ‘This is my body given for you. This is my blood poured out for you,’ that those words must become your words, that you, too, must make yourself a total self-gift as Jesus made himself a total self-gift.”
Whenever they go out to celebrate the sacraments — especially the Anointing of the Sick — and to mediate the mercy and compassion of Christ to his hurting people, the newly ordained priests, and indeed all clergy, must “be sure to celebrate them with the compassion of Jesus, with the love of Jesus,” the archbishop continued, exhorting the priests always to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their ministry.
“In that, too, you will shepherd and oversee the people entrusted to your care. You are to walk with them as a servant,” he said. “But, in walking with them, you are also to direct them, to guide them, to proclaim the Truth to them in season and out of season.”
Even amid great darkness and concern, the Father continues to walk with his people, and to send them alter Christi — other Christs — in his priests. And the Father is sure to walk with his priests in a special way, the archbishop noted.
“Know that the Lord is faithful when he speaks the words to you that he is sending you,” Archbishop Aquila encouraged, “that he is with you to deliver you, that he will place his words in your mouth. And do everything for the glory of God, for the glory of the Father, trusting in the surpassing power of Jesus and of God.”
As the archdiocese’s two newest priests — and potentially the last ones Archbishop Aquila will ordain as Archbishop of Denver — enter the world “as lambs among wolves,” aiming to incarnate Jesus’ care for his people, the archbishop had a simple parting prayer.
“May your priesthood be fruitful as you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and keep your hearts and minds with him who will strengthen you for many decades ahead in your ministry,” Archbishop Aquila concluded. “May the Lord fill you with an ever deeper love each day for him, the Father and the Spirit, and most especially for the faithful you will serve.”
