Transitional Deacon El Louie Jimenez will be ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of St Stephen on June 29.
The 30 year old is concluding seven years of study as a seminarian, a vocation journey that began in his homeland of the Philippines, and was more fully realised at the Holy Spirit Seminary in Banyo.
The Ordinand was formerly working as a nurse in Manila before he heeded the Holy Spirit’s call.
He has enjoyed a number of parish placements during the course of his studies, most recently to Springfield in Brisbane’s thriving south-west corridor.
Speaking with The Catholic Leader newspaper at the time in November 2021, El Louie welcomed the opportunity to reach out to people of all ages, both inside and outside of church, in what is a growing area.
“I’m looking forward to building relationships with the locals, and if I can do that properly, everything will follow,” he said.
“Of course I’m not just going to minister to them, but learn from them.”
“This is a parish which has been doing a lot of programs in evangelisation and I want to be a part of it.
“That means young people too – and I want to encourage the young people to be a part of the parish community by sharing their gifts and talents,” he said at the time.
The ordination Mass starts at 6.30pm on Wednesday June 29, an already joyous date in the Church as it is the Feast Day of founding Saints Peter and Paul.
Relatives and friends of El Louie will be able to participate in the liturgy via a livestream at https://brisbanecatholic.org.au/multimedia/web-cast/
The Ordinand has prayed that God would “continue to guide me in my ministry.”
“I’m so thankful for the gift of my vocation.
“I just want to thank everyone, those people who have supported me over the years like the seminary community and the parishes where I was placed and of course, our benefactors for the seminary who supported us financially and by their prayers,” he said.