By Elena Macias
On April 24, St. Junipero Serra House of Formation celebrated its 20th Anniversary of being located in Grand Terrace. A special Mass at nearby Christ the Redeemer Church was celebrated by Bishop Alberto Rojas and concelebrated by Bishop Emeritus Gerald Barnes. After years of existence in small and aged facilities in Riverside, the seminary community, under the leadership of Bishop Barnes, moved to the new 1.5-acre campus in Grand Terrace in 2005.
“There’s a sense of accomplishment that all the efforts of many people put in 20 years ago, has given fruit,” Bishop Barnes said. “The satisfaction is seeing that it did work, what we were trying to accomplish, we have it and it’s continuing and that’s an accomplishment of the whole diocese because it has become a diocesan house.”
The special anniversary Mass was also celebrated by the current seminarians, some assisting as altar servers, their friends, families and seminary teachers. Very Rev. Dr. Javier González Cabrera, the current Rector of Serra House, expressed deep thanks in celebrating this special anniversary.
“Gratitude, Gratitude, Gratitude,” exclaimed Fr. Cabrera. “Gratitude first and foremost to God and then gratitude to the people of the diocese. In a given time, the dream of Bishop Barnes was to have the seminary and that dream became true 20 years ago and now we are celebrating 20 years of anniversary Amen.”
Bishop Barnes shared the importance of a seminary in nourishing the young men who enter it with the hopes of becoming a priest.
“A seminary is, the Spanish use the word, “sembrar,” which means to sow seeds, to plant, and a seminary carries that purpose, to plant and to nourish the seeds of vocation that God has called these young men,” Bishop Barnes said. “A seminary, it takes care of what has been planted and nourishes that, helps it grow and sometimes through challenges, and affirmation because we want the best priest for the people, people deserve the best priest, so here we are trying to accomplish that in formation.”