Born and raised in Texas, a young Yolanda Lear came to California in the summer of 1972 to visit an aunt and never went back. In 1990, a few months after giving birth to her second child, she flipped through the pages of a newspaper because she needed to get back to work.
“I went through the Sun Newspaper, looked at the advertisements for employment and I saw, ‘bilingual secretary for the Vicar General for the Diocese of San Bernardino,’ and I looked at that and said, ‘okay, I can fit the bilingual secretary, I don’t know what kind of company this is, but yeah, I’m going to go for it. I can do this, I know I can do this,” Lear said.
Now, as she prepares for her retirement on Jan. 4, 2026, Lear is reflecting on her 35 years of dedicated service as the administrator for the Vicar General of the Diocese. A Vicar General is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary.
“When I came here to the diocese, I only came, honestly, [because] I needed a job,” Lear recalls. “That’s what I was looking for, a job, J-O-B, but as I have been here for the past 35 years, I know that God brought me to this place so that I could learn who I was and about my faith.”
When Lear began working for the diocese, founding Bishop Phillip Straling led the diocese and the vicar general was Monsignor Philip Behan. Although she came from a Catholic family, Lear did not have knowledge of what a vicar general was, the hierarchies of positions in the diocese as well as other structural aspects of the faith itself. But over time she would learn a lot about her position as well as her faith. She began working in the Office of Priest Personnel with the Vicar General, serving the priests.
“We would serve the priests, that was our ministry. Back then it was a job, but as I grew in the years, I learned that this was not a job, but it was a ministry,” she says. “This was something that I was supposed to be, serving the priests, the communities, the people of the diocese, that’s why God brought me here. I never thought I was going to stay here because I was only in my thirties and here, I am, 70.”
The moment everything changed for Lear, when she realized that her job was actually an opportunity to serve in ministry, came in 1992.
“It was right after Thanksgiving and we came back [to work], and we started decorating for Christmas,” Lear said. “I had all the wreathes, the tree up, I had the garland all the way up the stairs and here comes Bishop [Gerald] Barnes up the stairs. He gets to the top and stands there and I’m over there like a little kid, ‘Bishop Barnes isn’t this great, isn’t beautiful, isn’t it so nice!’ And he wasn’t mean, or anything, he just looked and stood there and said, ‘yeah, it’s pretty, but what happened to Advent?’ And I only said, ‘Bishop, what’s Advent?’ That was the beginning of my faith journey. That’s when I started learning that who I was as a Catholic, really wasn’t who I was. I wasn’t taught. So, I truly believe that my Lord and my God brought me here.”
During her time in ministry Lear has served under five bishops, Bishop Straling, Bishop Barnes, Auxiliary Bishop Dennis O’Neil, Auxiliary Bishop Rutilio del Riego, and current Ordinary Bishop Alberto Rojas. Lear has also served three vicar generals, Msgr. Behan, Monsignor Donald Webber, and current Vicar General Monsignor Gerard Lopez.
“It has been a distinct honor and blessing to work with Yolanda,” Msgr. Lopez said. “She has been the face of the diocese for a generation of priests and worked tirelessly on behalf of all of us. We will miss her! I admire her for her joyful spirit and caring attitude. She has been a pillar of strength for our Diocese through many challenges and struggles such as the sexual abuse crisis, 911 attacks and the deaths of bishops and priests.”
In 2009, Yolanda unfortunately had to endure the passing of her husband, Rick Lear. She shared that if she had not been working at the diocese, it would have been more difficult of a loss for her because she had a lot of support from her community.
“Even though she faced her own Good Fridays such as the death of her husband, Rick Lear, in 2009, she has been such a woman of faith like Mary and the great women saints,” Msgr. Lopez said. “We ask Our Lord to give her great health and happiness in her retirement.”
Lear was responsible for the first major priest database, recording and organizing priests’ information and what parishes they serve. Lear also helped in coordinating visiting priests from other countries, many of which were Ghanaian and Nigerian priests, some of whom still serve in the diocese today. Msgr. Lopez and Lear were the ones to start the Combined Vicariate meetings, retreats and elections for the diocesan Curia, and the annual Priests Convocation.
“I stay in contact with all my priests, I try to be there for them because they’re always there for me,” Lear said. “They’re always praying for me.”
In her retirement, Lear says she is looking forward to taking some road trips, including her first visit to Sedona, Arizona to see the beautiful landscape and the native hawks, her favorite bird. She also says she would love to start attending Mass three times a week and playing golf at least twice a week.
“That’s what I look forward to most, is to travel and to say this, ‘what am I going to do today?’ Isn’t that beautiful.’”
As Lear looks forward to her first day of retirement, Jan. 4, the Epiphany of the Lord, which she views as a good omen, she leaves current lay ministers with some wise advice.
“One of the great things I learned here is to be open to Him,” Lear said. “To be open to what He has in store for you. Always look for things, always listen, because that’s when He’s talking to you. If it wasn’t for Him, if I didn’t see that little ad saying, ‘bilingual secretary,’ I would have never been here. It was His doing because I was just looking for a job and it turned into a ministry, which is a greater gift than a job.”