Diocese of La Crosse ordains first native Mexican as priest

On Sept. 8, another priest joined the clerical ranks of the Diocese of La Crosse. At 10:30 in the morning before a crowd of 400 guests in the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman, La Crosse, Deacon Fernando Enrique Lara Hernandez received Holy Orders and was ordained a priest for the diocese by Bishop William P. Callahan - his first ordination since becoming bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse in 2010.

The only priest to be ordained for the diocese this year, Father Hernandez - known affectionately as "Father Fernando," 31, proved to be a windfall for the diocese as the first native of Mexico to be ordained for the faithful of the 19-county diocese - reaching from Prescott to Wausau to Lone Rock to Prairie du Chien.

Hailing from La Pila, a village near Guadalajara in the Mexican state of Jalisco, Father Fernando began studying for the priesthood at San Martin Seminary, Guadalajara, for the Archdiocese of Guadalajara at the age of 12. In 2005, while in college seminary, he visited the United States to visit relatives in California, and made a stop in Wisconsin to visit other relatives working in the apple orchards in the "Apple Capital of Wisconsin," the village of Gays Mills.

During the visit, he invited relatives and friends to accompany him to Sunday Mass, but his relatives declined, telling that because the Mass was not celebrated in Spanish they did not feel that they were welcomed.

"I thought and prayed about what God was asking of me," Father Lara Hernandez said in an interview prior to his ordination. "Christ said to go out to all the world to preach the Gospel. The language or culture doesn't matter."

The Catholic Times

For more info, check out a nice story at Sweet Ridge Sisters. 

HT Cheryl