CONGEN MEETS FIRST FIL-AM CATHOLIC PRIEST ORDAINED AT SANFO ARCHDIOCESE
CONSUL General Neil Ferrer received Rev. Fr. Jerald Geronimo during the latter’s call at the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco on June 17. The prelate is the first Filipino-american to be educated and ordained as a Catholic priest at the Archdiocese of San Francisco since the church’s founding in 1853.
Ferrer congratulated Father Geronimo, who was ordained as priest by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on June 4 at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in the same city.
At the ordination ceremony Archbishop Cordileone himself cited the historical significance of Father Geronimo’s sacerdotal ordination to the Filipino American Catholic community. Vice Consul Adrian Baccay attended the rite, as well as the newly ordained priest’s first Eucharistic celebration at the Church of the Epiphany on June 5.
As a gift, Ferrer gave Father Geronimo a copy of Rekindling Travel: The Third Edition, part of the “Bucket List Philippines” series of the Tourism Department.
Father Geronimo was born and raised in Daly City, California. His parents trace their roots in the province of Bulacan. In an interview posted on the San Francisco Archdiocese’s official web site, the 28-year-old priest said: “My Filipino culture has played a significant role in my upbringing. Through my culture, I have learned the values of family, communion and self-sacrifice. These… will be [important] as I soon embark on a vocation…precisely centered on sacrificial love, all for God and neighbor.”
Consul Vanessa Bago-llona and Baccay joined Ferrer during the call, while Father Geronimo was with his family, as well as Peter and Estrelle Chan of the Filipino Catholic Ministry of the San Francisco Archdiocese.