Deacon Alfred Omar Guerrero in a headshot taken last month at St. Patrick Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California. The Kalihi native is anticipating priestly ordination for the Diocese of Honolulu on May 19. (Photo by Abel Sanchez of Golden Images)
Priestly ordination a childhood dream for Kalihi native Deacon Alfred Omar Guerrero
By Darlene J.M. Dela Cruz
Hawaii Catholic Herald
The Diocese of Honolulu will gain a new priest May 19, when Bishop Larry Silva is scheduled to ordain Deacon Alfred Omar Guerrero in a special 6 p.m. liturgy at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa.
Deacon Guerrero, 28, will receive the sacrament of Holy Orders at his home co-cathedral parish, culminating for the young Kalihi native eight years of seminary study and formation, and a lifelong dream.
He will become the latest local boy ordained to the diocesan priesthood in a refreshing “miniboom” of Island vocations.
Kauai-born Father EJ Resinto, parochial vicar at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Ewa Beach, was ordained last July. Father Nicholas Brown, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Ewa, was ordained in 2015. Father Brown, like Deacon Guerrero, grew up in Kalihi a parishioner of the co-cathedral.
In 2011, Father Anthony Rapozo of Kauai was ordained for the diocesan priesthood. He is now pastor of St. Catherine Church in Kapaa.
Deacon Guerrero corresponded with the Hawaii Catholic Herald by email April 28 amid wrapping up his final busy few weeks at St. Patrick Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California. He just returned to the mainland after a brief Hawaii visit, which included a canonical retreat at the Benedictine Monastery in Waialua during Holy Week, and preaching his very first Easter Sunday homily at the co-cathedral.
Anticipating his seminary graduation, moving out of St. Patrick, prepping for his ordination liturgy and subsequent celebrations, and making time for “lots and lots of prayers,” Deacon Guerrero reflected on his priesthood journey.
“I feel thankful,” he said. “I am also elated by the fact that ordination is here.”
Vocation story
Deacon Guerrero is the son of the late Calixto and Zenaida Teresa Guerrero, and has one younger sister. He is a 2006 alum of Farrington High School. Before entering seminary in 2009, he worked at McDonald’s as a teen, and later had a brief stint as an airport transportation security officer.
He was baptized Anglican as an infant. At around age 8 or 9, he began serving as an altar boy at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa. He had been innocently receiving Eucharist there, but at the time had not yet been brought to full communion in the Catholic faith.
On his way to the park one day, a young Deacon Guerrero encountered kids playing at Our Lady of the Mount Church in Kalihi Valley. They invited him to their “Youth Night,” which later led to Deacon Guerrero becoming more involved in the parish. It was there he officially received his Sacraments of Initiation as a Catholic in 2001.
After graduating from high school, Deacon Guerrero went to the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa seeking a spiritual director. The rector at the time instead offered him a “church experience,” which included volunteer office work and assisting in liturgies as a master of ceremonies. Deacon Guerrero eventually became the co-cathedral’s lay pastoral associate at age 18.
A deep love of liturgy and of giving to God’s people was what fostered in Deacon Guerrero a priestly vocation since childhood.
“I was just so attracted to the celebration of the Eucharist,” he said. “I couldn’t wait to serve at Mass every week.”
Although he discerned other career paths, such as becoming a forensic pathologist and doing crime scene investigations, Deacon Guerrero said “it was hard to run away from the call of the Lord to serve him.”
“Throughout my years of growing up, the understanding of the call to the priesthood and what the ordained priesthood meant constantly changed,” he said. “I had the opportunity to see and experience the different facets of priestly life.”
Since entering the seminary, he has done pastoral work on all the major Hawaiian Islands. He has also been involved in administering sacraments as a deacon in parishes abroad.
“The most favorite thing about priestly formation has been meeting new people and going to new places where I thought I would never be,” Deacon Guerrero said. “The most challenging part of priestly formation so far was saying goodbye to the people you meet and minister to.”
A few weeks away from ordination, Deacon Guerrero is excited about becoming a witness to Jesus for Island Catholics. His first priestly assignment will be as parochial vicar of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Pearl City beginning July.
Deacon Guerrero said he now ponders the question, “how much of this ordination is for me?”
“I have come to gain a lot of trust and love for Christ and the church,” Deacon Guerrero said. Priesthood “is what God is calling me to, and for the sake of my salvation, but it is more than that. This ordination means that the Diocese of Honolulu will have another priest to bring the sacraments and to be radically available to be a shepherd of souls.”
Father EJ Resinto, a good friend of Deacon Guerrero, said he admires the priesthood candidate’s “zealous and charismatic spirit.” He said Deacon Guerrero would be for the Diocese of Honolulu “a gem of a priest.”
“Deacon Alfred is a great liturgist,” Father Resinto said.
Diocesan vocations director Father Rheo Ofalsa offered the following advice for Deacon Guerrero to continue reflecting on his ordination promises.
“When you’re lying prostrate on the ground during the Litany of the Saints, don’t be too quick to get up and dust yourself off,” Father Ofalsa said. “You’ve just laid your life down for God and his church. When you rise from the ground, do so with humility, fear, and trembling.”
Understanding the profound graces of his vocation, Deacon Guerrero encourages other men to consider the priesthood.
“Don’t disregard the feeling of being called to be a priest even when the world says it’s a foolish decision,” he said. “You never know how it will be like unless you try.”
