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Deacon Fernando Jiménez used to have his hands full when he spent time in prayer – a rosary, spiritual reading, his Bible.
He travels lighter these days.
Having learned to simply spend time in God’s presence is a skill he hopes will help him serve English- and Spanish-speaking faithful alike as the first Mexican-born priest to be ordained in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend Roman Catholic Diocese.
“My prayer and my hope are that I will be able to help both communities understand each other,” he said.
Jiménez, 29, will be ordained at 11 a.m. today at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, along with Deacon Jacob Runyon.
Any new priests are good news, given the church’s increasing shortage. And the local Hispanic community – a growing segment of the Roman Catholic church locally and nationwide – is taking great pride in the milestone of Jiménez’s ordination, said the diocese’s vicar general, the Rev. Robert Schulte.
“There’s a lot of pride on their part in the fact that he’s being ordained a priest,” Schulte said.
Part of Jiménez’s appeal to the local Hispanic population is his familiar background.
He was raised the oldest of five in a working-class family in the small town of La Cruz in the state of Guanajuanto, Mexico. His family was religious but not extraordinarily so. They were surrounded by a close-knit Catholic community, a town where everyone knew everyone, Jiménez said.
In 1999, his parents received their green cards to come to the United States. By then, a teenage Jiménez was immersed in his studies at a seminary in Mexico, so he stayed behind.
Being so far from his family was difficult, so he spoke to a few spiritual advisers about moving to the U.S. They helped him realize serving as a priest is an important vocation anywhere, Jiménez said.
“It doesn’t matter where you are serving,” he said. “If God is calling you to be a priest, he will open the way for you anyplace.”
In 2000, he met Bishop John M. D’Arcy and was accepted into the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese’s seminary course of study.
But Jiménez in 2000 was much different from the Jiménez who will be ordained today.
He became an American citizen last year; in 2000, he didn’t even speak English.
His acceptance in Fort Wayne began an intensive near-decade of study that took him to Massachusetts, Minnesota and Ohio. He spent two years at Boston University in intense English studies that he credits with helping form his character.
“Sink or swim – there’s only two possibilities,” Jiménez said.
Summers spent in Fort Wayne meant he began learning more about the local immigrant population. He was surprised by the diversity within the Hispanic community – immigrants and their families not just from Mexico, but from Guatemala, El Salvador and Argentina, he said.
A few days before his ordination, Jiménez seemed relaxed at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne, where he has been assigned to visit the homebound and those in hospitals and nursing homes. He also helps with education classes for those interested in the Catholic faith, helps with Masses all week and is on call for crises.
He also assists at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Warsaw.
He has an easy, familiar rapport with cathedral office secretaries Janice Buck and Patty Sosenheimer, who marvel at his ability to switch back and forth between English and Spanish for bilingual services such as baptisms. “It’s going to be a wonderful gift,” Sosenheimer said.
The diocese’s Schulte says, of course, foreign-born priests are not unusual. He can think offhand of priests of at least seven nationalities already serving in the diocese. But many foreign priests are not officially and permanently linked to the diocese.
Jiménez, as a bilingual priest with ties to the diocese who spent his formative years in two countries, is a rare commodity, Schulte said. “That will allow him to resonate more in the immigrant population,” he said. “To bring some of the richness of the Latino culture into our church is important.”
Jiménez will celebrate his first Mass at his home parish, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church at noon Sunday, parish secretary Blanca Navarro said.
The local Hispanic population has been as hard-hit by the economic times as everyone. Jiménez’s father recently lost his job when Dalton Corp. in Kendallville closed. But the community has rallied to put together a small reception for Jiménez after Sunday’s Mass, Navarro said.
Navarro has known Jiménez since he moved to the city and said it has been a joy to watch him mature and grow closer to the community he serves.
“We’re really proud that he was able to finish his studies here in Fort Wayne,” she said. “We pray that he’s going to be a good priest.”
