Six priests, five years: Father Joseph Moreno
Father Joseph Moreno holds a relic of St. Maximilian Kolbe at St. Michael Parish in Bedford. (NTC/Kevin Bartram)
On May 22, 2021, six men were ordained priests for the Diocese of Fort Worth. Five years later, Father Joseph Moreno shares his memories and experiences.
THE FIRST FIVE YEARS: Currently pastor of St. Michael Parish in Bedford; previously served at St. Jude Thaddeus Parish in Burkburnett, Christ the King Parish in Iowa Park, and St. Paul Parish in Electra.
FATHER FIGURE: Having experienced married life and being a biological father – I’ve got a different perspective when it comes to dealing with families and with children that some other priests may not have. We always use the image of the Good Shepherd for the priesthood, but another image for the priest is that of a father, because Christ is the image of the Father. So if [priests] are configured to Christ, we're also configured as fathers.
I’m a father to my parishioners first in the love that is shown. When you're raising your kids, you always want to be able to say yes to them. But a father has to know when it's not good to say yes. Sometimes we have to say not right now or no. Know that I've always got the ultimate end for my parishioners in mind, which is to get them to heaven, to make them saints. So when they come to me with something that's going to lead them the wrong direction, I don't have a problem telling them that and why. It's always about the good of their soul and then equipping them to make good decisions. It's very similar to a father when you're raising your child.
But it also means being there for them at any time when your kid calls, doesn't matter if it's 2:00 a.m., you're there for them. And it also means so much forgiveness. In the confessional, they see the love of the Father. He doesn't care what we've done. He just cares that we're sorry.
RECHARGING: At a priest conference with Dr. Scott Hahn, he gave us all a really good piece of advice. “You have to work on the Sabbath, so that means you have to make room for a Sabbath somewhere else. You need to treat your day off like the Sabbath.” I'm very fulfilled by the priestly life and all aspects of it — the pastoral, the sacramental — but you need to set that time aside for you and for God. You need to be intentional about your time off.
Try to plan your Sabbath ahead of time so that it is relaxing time that you need to spend rejuvenating that relationship with the Lord. In doing that you're able to carry on much better with the demands of the work the other six days.
GOD IS NEAR: Especially recently in the sacrament of confession. One particular day I was in there almost three hours and person after person after person had been away from the Church for decades. The Holy Spirit was calling them back, reconciling them to God, reconciling them to His Church, accepting God's divine life within their soul. All of these things that happened in the confessional, it was just amazing.
Other times where you give a homily, especially when I don't think it's a particularly great homily, somebody will come up to me after Mass crying, "Father, that is exactly what I needed to hear. I needed to hear that God loves me.” No idea what was going on in their life, but God does. So He guided me in crafting that homily. To this day I couldn't tell you what I said, but the fact was it wasn't me, it was God.
SUFFERING SOULS: So many people suffer from so many things. We're not talking material suffering — spiritual suffering. A lot is self-inflicted, dabbling in things that they really shouldn't be messing around with, and lifestyle choices that they've made. I've come to realize that almost everybody has some sort of suffering. They may not even be fully aware of it and most of them are not aware that simply reconnecting to our Lord will alleviate that suffering. So many people try to carry the cross that God has allowed them to carry, and they don't realize that they are not big enough to carry it on their own. Christ is supposed to be carrying it with them on another side.
MERCIFUL FATHER: I see in the confessional the extent of God's mercy that just pours down upon people and it's just a matter of them turning back to Him. Christ has already forgiven your sins. He's already atoned for your sins. But like any gift, it has to be accepted before it can be received.
That's where the repentance comes from. God has his mercy waiting. He wants to pour it out upon you.
LESSON FROM THE CONFESSIONAL: As I hear these hundreds of confessions every week, it helps me to make an examination of my own conscience.
When I hear these people coming forward to the Lord and confessing their sins, it makes me reflect, maybe I'm doing the same thing.
So it helps me to seek out confession more often. It’s definitely refocused me and re-energized my appreciation for the sacrament for myself.
BIG, BEAUTIFUL FAMILIES: The biggest hope really is that people will have more children. Big Catholic families are the happiest families I've encountered over the last five years. Lots of children truly are a gift from God. I wish that more people would be open to that.
As a corollary to that, that's how we get priests. People like to ask, "When's Bishop going to send you help?"
I’ll joke with them, "Did you send a son to seminary? I checked out in the community garden. I looked under every plant and on every tree and there are no priests growing there. I looked in our church supply catalogs, they're not selling priests either.” Priests come from the pews and that means families need to have sons, and to be willing to give them back to the Church.
STATUS CHECK: The priesthood is more fulfilling than I ever dreamed it would be, the most fulfilling thing I've ever done in my life. There are ups and downs even in the priesthood, but, even in the worst days that you have, the fact that you are a priest called by God, configured to Jesus Christ, serving through the Holy Spirit, the people of God is absolutely amazing. Remembering that is enough to take you through whatever it is that you're going through.