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Gulf Pine Catholic
•
October 10, 2014
THANKSGIVING NOVENA TO ST. JUDE
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from the depth of my heart and humbly beg to whom God has given
such great power to come to my assistance. Help me in my present
and urgent petition. In return I promise to make your name known
and cause you to be invoked. St. Jude pray for us and all who invoke
your aid. Amen.
Say three Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glorias.
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get crazy and become stressful,” Deacon Lalo said.
“Father Mike just urges me to relax and so I’ve
learned to be patient.”
Deacon Lalo said that Father Mike has been a posi-
tive example in his love of ministering to the sick at
home, in nursing homes and in the hospital.
“This is a ministry that many priests don’t like
because it’s hard and it takes up a lot of time but Father
Mike loves that kind of ministry,” he said.
“And I like that kind of thing. I do care about people
who cannot come to church and I love to visit them.”
Deacon Lalo said Father Ignacio has helped him to
learn important things about both the Hispanic and
American communities and to balance his ministry
between both communities.
Additionally, he said Father Ignacio has become a
good friend during the formation process.
“Sometimes, when you have things that are going
on in your life and in your ministry, you need to have
good friends with whom you can talk about it,” he said.
Father Peter has only been assigned to Immaculate
Conception for a short time but said he has certainly
endeared himself to the people of the parish in the short
time he has been with them.
“Every person has different kinds of manners and
different kinds of behaviors,” he said.
“Father Peter loves to talk to people,” Deacon Lalo
said. “Sometimes I’m very quiet and shy because I am
an introverted person. Father Peter doesn’t care. He’ll
talk to anybody and he feels very comfortable. So I’ve
learned a lot from him in terms of being more outgo-
ing.”
Deacon Lalo said he also admires Father Peter’s
love for the liturgy.
“He has a very special love for the liturgy and for
properly celebrating the Mass -- how to take care of the
church, the sacred vessels and the vestments and things
like that. With every priest I have learned something,”
he said.
Deacon Lalo will wrap up his internship this month
and return to Notre Dame Seminary on Oct. 19.
He is tentatively scheduled to be ordained to the
priesthood next summer and said that this internship
has been vital because it has given him experience out-
side the classroom setting and the opportunity to expe-
rience parish ministry firsthand and to minister to the
needs of the people.
Internship provides Hispanic seminarian with
hands-on pastoral experience
BY TERRY DICKSON
LAUREL -- For Deacon Everardo Mora-Torres,
better known as “Lalo,” the past five months have pro-
vided an invaluable learning experience.
Deacon Lalo, who was ordained to the transitional
diaconate in late May, is wrapping up his internship at
Immaculate Conception Parish in Laurel, St. Bernadette
Parish in Waynesboro and Holy Trinity Mission in
Leakesville under the tutelage of Msgr. Michael
Thornton.
“At the beginning, before I came here, I was afraid
because I’d be serving in three parishes,” said Deacon
Lalo, 31, a native of Angangueo, Michoacán, Mexico.
“But I came to like it right away and I’ve enjoyed
everything I’ve been doing.”
Deacon Lalo explained that since Waynesboro and
Leakesville are small communities without a whole lot
of ministries, he has performed the bulk of his service
in Laurel.
“Here in Laurel we have two communities -- a
Hispanic community and the American community,” he
said, adding that it has been difficult at times to transi-
tion between the two communities.
“That has been hard for me. Sometimes we have
activities going on in both communities at the same
time. (At such times), I can spend part of the time with
the Hispanic community and part of the time with the
American community. I have been trying to not only
focus on one community but to work with both com-
munities.”
Fortunately, when he arrived in Laurel this summer,
Deacon Lalo was not completely unknown to the peo-
ple of Immaculate Conception Parish.
“When I came to the United States three years ago,
I spent one month in this parish,” he said.
“I was not doing too much. I was only going to
Mass and trying to help (former parochial vicar Father
Ignacio Jimenez). But I knew a little about this parish
beforehand and how everything worked.”
Now, Deacon Lalo said, he is very comfortable with
his surroundings and enjoys ministering to the people
of the parish.
“Both communities have been loving me a lot and
supporting me a lot,” he said.
“Of course, I feel more comfortable with the
Hispanic community because I can speak Spanish. My
Spanish is good and I don’t have trouble communicat-
ing with them. Also, when I’m preaching at the Spanish
Masses, I don’t have the boundaries of the language.
But, with the American community, even though I have
broken English, they have been very patient and they
have supported me a lot.”
Recalling his first time preaching at an English
Mass, Deacon Lalo said many parishioners approached
him afterwards to offer positive feedback.
“Many of them congratulated me, said I spoke good
English and that they could understand every word.
They told me that I needed to continue working at it but
that I was doing fine and that, even though I my English
wasn’t perfect, they loved me,” he said.
“That meant a lot to me because I felt more com-
fortable.”
There have been some bumps along the way.
“I’ve had some troubles reading the Gospel because
sometimes I don’t know the correct pronunciation of a
particular word,” he said.
But, even though the people don’t laugh at me, they
will tell me if I mispronounce a word. They don’t do it
because they are mean. They do it because they are try-
ing to help me.”
Deacon Lalo said he has also learned a lot from
Msgr. Thornton, better known as Father Mike, as well
as Father Ignacio, who now serves in Hattiesburg, and
the current parochial vicar, Father Peter Kmecik.
“Each of them has a different type of personality
and they have a different type of approach to the peo-
ple,” he said.
“But the people love them.”
Deacon Lalo said the biggest lesson he has learned
from Father Mike is to be patient.
“Sometimes it’s very quiet in the parish but it can
Deacon Lalo and Msgr. Michael Thornton
