Q&A with the five new priests
From Guam to Cedar Grove, the five men to be ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Newark have traveled diverse paths. They share a similar calling, however, and on May 29, will be ordained by Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., in the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark.
This year’s class features a biologist, landscaper, and financial compliance specialist. The ordinandi describe when they first sensed the call to the priesthood — one as early as age six – and their transformational journeys to the priesthood.
To learn more about the call to the priesthood, visit the Office of Priestly Vocations of the Archdiocese of Newark.
Gabriel Celis Camacho
Age: 31
Birthplace: Tamuning, Guam
Home parish: St. Columba’s Church, Newark; Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica, Hagåtña, Guam
Education: Bachelor of Sacred Theology (Lateran University); M.A. in Systematic Theology from Seton Hall University
Growing up in Guam, Father Camacho did all the things that were expected of him. He studied hard, got a good job, a car, and a social life. Yet, something was still missing.
“The Church came to find me and offered me an alternative, which I fought against for many years,” he explained. “Seminary life and becoming a priest was never appealing to me. ‘What a sad and boring life,’ I would say. But as I was entering my sophomore year of college, this part of my life was the clearest definition of a ‘sad and boring life.’ It was necessary for me to hit rock bottom to submit to entering into a seminary. My best decision yet.”
Father Camacho entered the seminary in 2009 and was immediately struck by the various backgrounds of his fellow seminarians who came from all different parts of the world. With this diversity came different personalities and cultures.
“Since the very first day, I saw the seminary as a kind of Zoo, with all sorts of animals living together,” he said. “There are five different ways to play soccer, 13 different opinions about which country has the best food, but only one way to eat pasta.”
Father Camacho said the challenges were the fondest memories: “To put a bunch of men, from different backgrounds, under one roof. Only God can do that! To witness disagreements and arguments on one day, and then see them smiling and laughing together the next? Only God can do that!”
When asked why he wanted to become a priest, Father Camacho responded, “Why not be a priest? If this is how God wishes to bring happiness into my life, Amen! So be it!”
These are challenging times, he said, but that is precisely the point.
“Everyone is looking to be secure, to be safe, but more than anything, we are all, including myself, just looking to find happiness, to find a sense of satisfaction. Happiness can only be found in doing what God has planned out in our lives. That is based on personal experience. He is our Father, and He only wants what is best for all of us. Why on earth would I depart from this awesome adventure? I say, ‘Lord, let us move forward.'”
Luis Carlos Rodrigues de Araujo
Age: 38
Birthplace: Brasilia (Brazil)
Home parish: St. Aloysius, Newark
Education: M.Div. (Master of Divinity) from Seton Hall University
Father Rodrigues remembers the moment he decided to enter the seminary like it was yesterday. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI was in Brazil to celebrate the canonization of Frei Cavão in the Basilica of Aparecida. Father Rodrigues was there, and afterward, he attended a vocational meeting that would forever change his life.
“After listening to the preaching, I felt that God had called me to leave everything and follow him,” he explained. “More than 300 youth stood up for the priesthood, and I was one of them who went to the stage to receive a blessing from the bishop.”
The early days at Redemptorists Mater Seminary of Newark were challenging, said Father Rodrigues. It was a new life in a new country far from his family, and he didn’t speak English.
“But during these years, I discovered that to follow the ways of the Lord is best,” he said. “I learned to ask for help from others. So many brothers spent hours helping me. I learned to live in communion with others that had the same difficulties that I had.”
While in discernment Father Rodrigues said the Lord performed many miracles in his life. Most importantly, God gave him the grace to reconcile with his biological mother and accept his identity as an adoptee.
“My parents adopted me when I was 10-months old, and I grew up without knowing the reason why my biological mother gave me up to adoption,” he explained. “I grew up as a very closed person. These years of formation helped me to mature.”
Through this reconciliation, Father Rodrigues understood that God was his Father and that He was always with him, loving him through all the events of his life.
“Although my biological mother was not able to care for me, God gave me a family that gave me everything,” he said. “In the seminary, I experienced that I was not alone. God gave me another family of brothers and formators. He called me to be a priest. Today I can say that I did not choose God, but He chose me.
Father Rodrigues said that his 12 years of formation prepared him for the great mission of becoming a priest and teaching and preaching the truth while helping the people of God through the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.
Moris Montoya
Age: 35
Birthplace: Sensuntepeque in El Salvador
Home parish: Santa Barbara in El Salvador; St. Mary’s Church in Plainfield.
Education: B.A. in Catholic Theology from Seton Hall University; M.Div. (Master of Divinity) from Seton Hall University
Father Montoya was born in El Salvador and was the middle child of eight. He moved to the United States at age 15 and provided financial support for his parents back in El Salvador for nine years through odd jobs like landscaping and dry cleaning.
Before deciding to enter seminary, Father Montoya went through a discernment process that lasted over a year. He consulted with priests and spent considerable time praying in the Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
“Eucharistic Adoration, daily Mass, the sacrament of confession, and monthly meetings with other discerners were key in this process,” Father Montoya explained. “But there were two more events that helped me decide to finally enter seminary.”
The first was a vocation discernment retreat, and the second was something a little closer to home.
“If I were to enter seminary, I would not be able to provide economic support for my parents back in El Salvador anymore,” Father Montoya said. “I was afraid that my parents were going to have a difficult time without my support. But when I told my parents about my decision to enter seminary, my father said, ‘God will provide.’ He was confident in God’s providence.”
Father Montoya said with God’s grace, and as a priest, he would like to bring faith, hope, and charity to the people of God.
“God wants to do great things in our lives,” he said. “God wants to transform what seems impossible in our lives.”
God did exactly that for him, he said.
“Jesus Christ came to my life in a very challenging and difficult time of my life,” Father Montoya said. “Jesus healed my brokenness and called me to Himself, to a deeper relationship with Him and His Church. I know that Jesus Christ desires to have an encounter with every person in our own challenging and difficult times. As one of Jesus’ priests, I hope and desire to facilitate that encounter with the Person of Jesus Christ. I go with an open heart where the Lord sends me. I am confident that God will bless me with the people I will be serving, and I hope I can be a blessing for them as a priest.”
Christian G. Scalo
Age: 29
Birthplace: Valley Hospital in Ridgewood
Home parish: St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Cedar Grove
Education: B.S. in Biology from Immaculata University; M.Div. (Master of Divinity) from Seton Hall University
“Ever since I was 6 years old, I have felt that God was calling me to be His priest,” said Father Scalo, who grew up in Cedar Grove and attended St. Catherine of Siena Parish in the Archdiocese of Newark.
The call stayed with him all through his elementary school, high school, and college years, though he didn’t formally act on it until the end of his biology studies in college.
“I wouldn’t say that there was one particular moment or event that confirmed my decision to enter the seminary, but rather, that I had felt the call continue to grow in my heart,” Father Scalo said.
There were countless small affirmations along the way, he noted, until finally there reached a point where he could no longer push the call aside.
“I can still remember the day that I told my friends and family that I was going to enter the seminary,” Father Scalo said. “It was one of the best days of my life and surely the best decision that I ever made because I know that I am doing what God has made me to do.”
Asked why, despite these challenging times, he still desired to become a priest, Father Scalo said these difficult times are exactly why he still wants to be a priest.
“They have not deterred me in the slightest,” he said. “The world today is in desperate need of Jesus through the ministry of priests!”
Father Scalo said during his time in the seminary, he recognized that God called him to be a priest who can lovingly accompany His people both in the joyful times and in the sorrowful times of their lives.
“I have experienced great personal joy walking alongside others in my parish assignments, as a seminarian and as a deacon in my last year of formation,” he said. “During life’s most difficult storms, Jesus stands next to each one of us with arms outstretched to provide new hope, comfort, and security.”
Father Scalo said he had experienced this comfort, and as a priest, he will have the most beautiful opportunity to help others come to know the consoling and loving presence of God in their lives.
Lynx J.M. Soliman
Age: 42
Birthplace: Newark
Home parish: Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark
Education: Bachelors in Communication from Florida International University; M.Div. (Master of Divinity) and M.A. in Systematic Theology from Seton Hall University
Father Soliman was born and raised in Newark, just a few blocks away from the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, where he will celebrate his first Mass once ordained.
“We used to hear the bells from the Cathedral ring out through the neighborhood, and occasionally we’d walk to Mass,” he recalled.
After Sunday Mass, his family gathered at home for coffee and conversation while playing Mass with his siblings and cousins.
“It’s one of the fondest memories I have of Sunday as the Lord’s Day. Attending Mass, dressing up, all the stores were closed, and we’d be together as a family,” he said.
Father Soliman would work in finance for 10 years before entering seminary. He said the death of Pope Saint John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI were a point of departure in his initial stages of discernment.
“For me, it was such a powerful testimony of the greatness of the Church and the fidelity of Christ to His promise that I knew I had to give my life to it,” Father Soliman said.
That journey took him to discern religious life, move to Europe, and eventually return home to New Jersey. He entered the seminary in 2014.
“It was an adventure that has been fun, challenging, and profoundly formative for me in becoming a man of prayer and a man for others,” he said. “The brotherhood of seminarians has been a great gift to me. Moments of intimacy and dialogue with the Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament are certainly memories that have and will continue to sustain me in service to the Church.”
Father Soliman said that while these times are indeed challenging for both the Church and the world, he is encouraged by the words of Pope Benedict XVI: “Dear friends, may no adversity paralyze you. Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness. The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so that, by your faith, His Name will continue to resound throughout the world.”
“These words have urged me forward in giving the Lord my ‘Yes!’ since I am confident that if He has called me today, He will also provide the grace for me to accomplish His work,” Father Soliman said. “All I have to do is pray, trust, and allow the Holy Spirit to do the rest.”
Featured image: The five men ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Newark on May 29, 2021 from left to right: Moris Montoya, Christian G. Scalo, Lynx J.M. Soliman, Luis Carlos Rodrigues de Araujo, and Gabriel Celis Camacho. (Photo by Jai Agnish/Archdiocese of Newark)
