Courtesy Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP
Viriditas2: Soul Greening
Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Father Diolata is a priest of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. He is 26 years professed and 20 years ordained. He is the seventh in his family among six brothers and four sisters. He will be leaving Mary, Star of the Sea Church in Waialae-Kahala as parochial vicar this summer to become pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Honokaa.
When I was in elementary and high school, I seldom went to church. However, when I was smaller, I remember my mother bringing me along with her.
We had a Eucharistic adoration chapel in our parish of Sts. Joachim and Anne. My mother was an adorer of the Blessed Sacrament. She also prayed novenas for different intentions to particular saints.
Because of my friends, in high school I joined the Wednesday night devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. I played guitar with them.
During my college years, I began to be attracted to the priestly life. My point of entry was that a friend invited me to attend a meeting in search of a director of youth ministry for our parish. At the meeting my friend suggested me for the position. I was a newbie and wasn’t very active in my parish as required. But they pushed me, and I was elected. I was in my third year of college then.
From being the parish coordinator of youth ministry, I was accelerated and moved up to serve on the vicariate level as the priest really needed someone. My personal motivation was that I got to use his motorbike. I was really interested in learning how to drive it. Because there were no cellphones then, I was the one to bring the letters of communication to the different parishes.
That was around the time of the upcoming World Youth Day in 1995. Being promoted once again, I became the coordinator of youth for the diocese and thus prepared the Manila delegation for World Youth Day.
Some people wonder why, since I am from Malinao, Abay, in Bicol, Philippines, I did not apply to the diocesan seminary or another religious congregation? Nobody recruited me. It was actually a Blessed Sacrament priest who invited me. I was touched how, when my grandmother was really sick, he came to our house (which was really far away from the city) to anoint her. I observed how he and other priests were really needed by the people every day.
When I asked permission from my mother to enter the seminary she said to me, “Wherever you find joy and happiness in life, I will support you.”
Since entering the congregation, I realized that unlike my mother often reciting novenas, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is about silence. It is about just sitting before the Lord, calming oneself and talking to the Lord with your inner heart.