Unlikely Ordination in Puerto Rico
On Sunday, May 15, 2022, in the celebration of the Fifth Sunday of Easter, our brother Br. Carlos Alberto Rodríguez-Villanueva, OP was ordained as transitional deacon by the hands of Most Reverend Rubén A. González Medina, CMF, bishop of the diocese of Ponce to which our parish Nuestra Señora del Rosario in Yauco belongs. We had the great joy of counting with the participation of several friars from our two communities in Puerto Rico, a large group of Dominican Sisters of Fatima; clergy and seminarians of the diocese of Ponce, co-workers of br. Carlos Alberto and many parishioners from the Yauco parish. The parents of br. Carlos Alberto and other family members actively participated in the liturgy.
Our brother Rev. Br. Carlos Alberto Rodríguez-Villanueva is a native of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. He made his first profession in the Order on September 14, 2004. Until now, as a Cooperator Brother on the Island, he has worked as a professor of theology and ecclesiastical history at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, Ponce campus, where he is also director of the Department of Philosophy and Theology. Since 2020, he has been superior and syndic of the Most Holy Rosary House in Yauco. He earned a PhD in History from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico and is completing his Master of Divinity at the Graduate School of Theology and Ministry of the Central University of Bayamón. The new deacon has been working hard as administrator of our parish in Yauco, especially after the earthquakes suffered in the southwest area of the Island in December 2019 and January 2020. At the provincial level, he is part of the Justice and Peace Commission.
During the ordination Eucharist, Bishop Rubén Antonio, starting from the motto of the Order: to Praise, to Bless and to Preach, delved into the Easter character of the Dominican charism that Rev. Br. Carlos Alberto will now live from his diaconal ministry. A blessed climate of affection felt towards the Order and towards our brother was deeply experienced from the Bishop of Ponce, who is also President of the Puerto Rican Conference of Bishops, as well as from the seminarians students of br. Carlos Alberto, and the faculty members of the Pontifical Catholic University that accompanied him in this moment of celebration. All the friars of the Province who live and work in Puerto Rico feel profound gratitude and joy for the blessing that represents the diaconal ordination of br. Carlos Alberto and we pray for his next steps towards priestly ordination.