New deacons ready to serve

In some ways Deacons David Bayardo and Alfredo Villarreal’s lives have been similar, both men are striving to do God’s will in their lives and will be ordained priests next year.

Both men have loving, Catholic parents, were altar servers, attend St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston and on June 1, were ordained to the transitional diaconate by Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey in Corpus Christi Cathedral with family and friends joyfully looking on and joining in prayers of thanksgiving.

Their paths to this point in their shared experience, however, took different routes.

Deacon Bayardo describes his journey as a steady stream of faith his entire life. At the age of 18 he entered the seminary and in a real sense of the word grew up in that environment. Born to Pedro Jr. and Diana Bayardo, he said his parents and sister are a testament to Christianity. He described his father as his rock.

According to Deacon Bayardo his father encompasses a lot of what the Gospel is about–kindness, love and patience. “My father is always just and I always felt loved. He has been there for me through every step.

“My mom is such a loving and prayerful person. She is emotive and outwardly prayerful and my sister, Kathryn is like an extension of my mother. My parents do a good job reflecting God’s love. That was always a dynamic that inspired me,” Deacon Bayardo said.

During the transitional diaconate ceremony, he was filled with a multitude of overwhelming emotions. “Becoming a transitional deacon is the first time you make the promises. Its the celibacy and chastity…the big one, until the day you die,” Deacon Bayardo said.

“For so long you’re in [seminary], for me it will be eight years and your waiting for that light at the end of the tunnel and sometimes you don’t know whether it’s a train coming along or the end of the tunnel. You’re just trucking along. It’s a huge step.”

His formal formation began at Holy Family Church where the Oblates of Mary Immaculate provided a constant in his life. His parents were married there, it was where he and his sister were baptized, his uncle, Father Francisco Quezada (now working for the Diocese of Colorado Springs) was ordained, his sister, Kathryn was later married and his nieces and nephews were baptized.

The Incarnate Word of the Blessed Sacrament sisters also played a big part in forming him. He went to elementary school at Central Catholic and then on to Incarnate Word Academy where the sisters taught.

In 2008, after five years of seminary, Bayardo took some time off from discernment, but did not stray far from the Church. Father Patrick Donohoe hired him to become director of faith formation and youth minister at St. Joseph Parish in Beeville. It was during that time that he came to the full realization of his calling.

“I needed to work on some stuff about myself on my time off,” Deacon Bayardo said.

“Part of being an effective minister is understanding the people you minister to and the greatest model for that is God incarnate in Jesus Christ,” he said. He learned how to live on his own, pay bills and taxes. The more you become like those you help the more you can understand and help them.”

“Working in a parish and understanding the dynamic of how beautiful that life, that manifestation of the Christian life is. Being part of a parish and watching the joy that Father Pat had running one and even some of the hardships. But it was really essentially the Christian faithful that led me back to the seminary, the people that I ministered to in the youth ministry and being director of faith formation,” he said.

In 2010 he said he went back to the seminary a better person with an overwhelming sense of calm and peace in the knowledge that he was on the right track–the one laid out for him by God.

He returned to parish life during his pastoral year at St. Pius X working with Father Paul Hesse. “I love St. Pius X and St. Joseph Parishes. Working at a parish and living at a parish is different. During my pastoral year I could assist the priest with the sacraments. Father Paul included me on all aspects of learning what a priest life is like from the social aspect to understanding your community, to going on sick calls,” the new deacon said.

While Deacon Bayardo was 18 when he entered the seminary and had already been discerning for two years, Deacon Villarreal was 38 when he began his discernment–he knew how to live on his own, pay bill and taxes.

Deacon Villarreal was born in Los Angeles to Maria and Hector Villarreal and the family stayed there for seven years, after which they moved around some. His family, including his brother Hector and two sisters-Lety and Imelda, settled in Monterrey, Mexico for the next 10 years where he became fluent in Spanish.

“I felt nurtured and loved by my parents, although my dad didn’t say much he always showed love through his action. My mom would say it and demonstrate it,” Deacon Villarreal said.

When the Mexican economy took a downward spiral his parents moved the family to Corpus Christi and Deacon Villarreal attended both W. B. Ray and King High Schools. At 17, he began working for HEB and did so for the next 21 years. “I liked the service aspect of the job and I miss the people, not the work,” he said.

While working for HEB, Deacon Villarreal took courses towards a degree in business. He first attended Del Mar College, and then Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, which helped him get into pre-theology in the seminary and cut to five years, instead of the normal eight, for him to become a priest.

Always attending church, at the urging of his mother, Deacon Villarreal described himself as a “pew warmer.” Never straying to far from the Church, but never really participating either.

The turning point came when his brother-in-law was shipped off to Iraq. He moved in to help his sister with her two-week-old baby and small child. His sister began taking a course called “The Encounter.” “She had this fire in her eyes and I remembered I use to have that,” Deacon Villarreal said. In 2005, she finally nailed him down to go to “The Encounter” with her.

“From the first class I felt God poking me until he got my attention.

I started actively seeking His will and praying more. I began participating in Mass and finding ways to serve–helping with Encounter, ushering and joining the Knights of Columbus,” he said.

People would ask him if he would pursue the priesthood, but he would casually shrug them off. It wasn’t until his Pastor Father Bob Dunn from Most Precious Blood Church, approached him after confession that he even considered it.

“Father Bob probably didn’t even know my name that day,” he said. Later, Father Dunn told him the Holy Spirit led him to ask. After a year of praying every day he entered the seminary.

“It’s been great…challenging,” Deacon Villarreal said. Some courses were harder than others for him. The seminary has prepared him for what lies ahead. It has been shaping him. He has seen a lot of personal growth within himself–emotional, spiritual and intellectual, which has helped him get to know himself better. “Just the ability to form friendships–it’s been a rewarding time,” he said.

In his homily at the ordination, Bishop Mulvey thanked the deacons for their courage, especially considering the world that we live in today. To be able to say, “here I am Lord, present and ready to serve.”

Both Deacons Bayardo and Villarreal desire to be priests but they know that it will happen in God’s time not theirs. “Obedience is a part of my promises, I’ll go where I’m needed, but a big part of obedience is trust in those people who are making those decisions for you and I have had nothing but trust in this diocese since I’ve been here,” Deacon Bayardo said.

To others considering the call to the priesthood Deacon Bayardo gave this advice, “I’d tell them to keep praying and thinking about it. I can’t wait to be a priest. True discernment comes from a sense of true lived Christianity. The more open you are to the promises of Baptism, the more prone you are to really have an open ear to what God’s call for you is. If you work on becoming a good Christian, God’s will in your life works.”

He and his brother Deacon Villarreal are proof of that.