Eight scholastics, one of them from the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific, were ordained as deacons by Bishop Vicente de Paula Ferreira CSsR on 27 November in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Calisto Seco Colo from Timor-Leste was ordained alongside Ashton Isheanesu Mugozhi from Zimbabwe, Carlos Emilio Ossa Zapata from Colombia, Isaias Gomes da Silva and Paulo Verissimo de Araujo Filho from Brazil, Rodrigo Jose Pinto Escamilla from Mexico, Sergio Jesus Ojeda Acuna from Cuba, and Victor Jesus Fernandez Contreras from Venezuela.
The diaconate ordination was held in Paroquia Santissima Trindade, a Jesuit parish in a poor community in Santa Luzia, Minas Gerais. In his homily, Bishop Vicente said that “to serve, as deacons, is to be available for others particularly in proclaiming the Word of God (the source of all the missionary works of the Church) to others”. He encouraged the ordinands: “You need to let your hearts be shaped by the love, mercy, and justice of God. The world cries out for us, for our presence. The Church is the only institution that has the capacity to face the ‘dragons’ of our society. We, as members of this Church, need to push ourselves forward to recognise the person of Jesus in our world today. Our only reference is Jesus. We are called to reach out to our brothers and sisters. We also need to change our relationship with nature – integral ecology.”
There were many Jesuits who came to celebrate the ordination, including provincials, theology professors, and scholastics in various stages of formation (Juniorate, Philosophy, and Theology). The participation of the parishioners was limited in number due to Covid-19 restrictions. So only a few representatives from the pastoral areas of the ordinands were able to attend. There were also three Timorese students studying in Brazil who came to participate. After the Mass, the whole congregation celebrated with the partaking of the traditional Brazilian coxinha (fried chicken) and pao de quejo (cheese bread) that were prepared for everyone.
The Conference of Jesuit Provincials of Latin America and the Caribbean has three theologates in Chile, Colômbia, and Brazil. These formation houses for Jesuit theology students are called Centro Inter-provincial de Formação (CIF). The ordinands come from the CIF of Belo Horizonte. All of them started their theological studies in 2019 at the Faculdade Jesuita de Teologia e Filosofia (FAJE), and are set to finish their studies at the end of December this year.
Deacon Colo joined the Society of Jesus in 2004 in Singapore. He spent almost 10 years in Manila, where he did Juniorate for two years (2006-2008), Philosophy for four years (2008-2012), and Masters in Counseling Psychology for three years (2014-2017) at the Ateneo de Manila University. He accompanied the Jesuit candidates in Timor-Leste during his Regency from 2012-2014. He also spent a year (2018) working at Instituto São João de Brito in Timor-Leste. Then he continued his theological studies in FAJE from 2019 until 2021.
“I arrived for theology studies with a lot of anxieties knowing that I had to learn a new language and enter into a new culture, but the embrace of all the people I met lessened my anxieties,” shared Deacon Colo. “As I look back, it has been an enriching journey of doing theology in FAJE. I have grown in faith in the Triune God, who actively involves in the history of humanity. Theology urges me to search for justice and the promotion of human dignity. As I return to Timor, I pray that I may continue to grow in God’s love, mercy, and compassion in the encounters with pain, violence, inequality, and injustice.”