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Ordinand's meeting with John Paul II helped form call
Catholic Register Staff
April 9, 2010
Editor’s note: This is one in our series of profiles on the men who will graduate from St. Augustine’s Seminary this spring and be ordained to the priesthood for various dioceses.
Landorff José García Mariona, 34, was born in San Salvador, El Salvador. He is the oldest of three brothers, and his family immigrated to Canada in 1987.
Landorff José García Mariona, 34, was born in San Salvador, El Salvador. He is the oldest of three brothers, and his family immigrated to Canada in 1987.
The priesthood was not part of his plans, but he felt the call after years of being part of a Neocatechumenal community, an itinerary of Christian formation.
In the Neocatechumenal Way, Garcia said, “I discovered the love of Christ for the sinner, the love of Christ for me. When I found that the brothers and sisters accepted, they did not judge or demand from me to be someone I am not. This experience helped me to answer the call during a vocational meeting at World Youth Day in Paris” in 1997.
After three years of struggling, a March 2000 meeting with the late Pope John Paul II in the Holy Land helped him to renew the call.
Garcia has been studying for the priesthood at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Toronto, preparing to serve the people of the archdiocese of Toronto.
In the Neocatechumenal Way, Garcia said, “I discovered the love of Christ for the sinner, the love of Christ for me. When I found that the brothers and sisters accepted, they did not judge or demand from me to be someone I am not. This experience helped me to answer the call during a vocational meeting at World Youth Day in Paris” in 1997.
After three years of struggling, a March 2000 meeting with the late Pope John Paul II in the Holy Land helped him to renew the call.
Garcia has been studying for the priesthood at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Toronto, preparing to serve the people of the archdiocese of Toronto.