“AS soon as I heard, I ran into the armory, where big crowds of people had gathered. The grief was tremendous - not just loved ones but strangers, grown men sobbing in the street. What struck me most was the dignity of their sorrow. No one asked, ‘Why’ or ‘What did they die for?’ Instead it was ‘What can I do?’” - Fr. Vicente Dela Cruz, quoted by Paul Solotaroff, Our Fathers Were Soldiers, 2005.
Fr. Vicente Dela Cruz (known as Fr. Vic to his parishioners) occupies one of the key leadership positions, as Judicial Vicar and counsel to the Bishop in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux. He is the current rector of the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales, the largest Catholic Church in Houma.
He shared his reflections above with Paul Solotaroff in 2005, when Houma lost six National Guardsmen to Operation Iraqi Freedom. An explosive device hit them, as they patrolled in their Bradley fighting vehicle. As the community grieved, Fr. Vic ministered to them.
Fr. Vic survived the buckets of tears from grieving families of Houma, the storms of Hurricane Katrina, the EDSA unrest which got nuns, priests, and seminarians involved, the assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr., and the dirt-poor living conditions while he ministered to the orphans of Zambia, whose parents died because of AIDs. He also survived the trying atmosphere which arose from sexual scandals involving priests in Louisiana.
“I was deeply affected and disturbed when the problem of sexual abuse and misconduct became public. As a young priest and oblivious to what was going on, the pain of association took a toll on many of us,” he shared. While he was not guilty of such an act and is still highly regarded as a priest, he was not spared from suspicion, ridicule and lack of regard.
There must be a guiding hand from the Universe which gives him protection and allows him to stay above the fray to minister to the needy, the grieving, the destitute and rich parishioners alike. A guiding hand which allows him to pursue his canon law studies and lead pilgrimages in the ritzy places of the world: Canterbury, England; Ottawa, Canada; Israel, Rome, and Marian Shrines of Europe. He has seen not just the lowest of lows, but the best of the best as well.
While studying canon law in Ottawa, Canada, he distinguished himself by obtaining two degrees: one for his ecclesiastical and another for his civil degrees, both in canon law. At Universite` St. Paul, he was appointed to the faculty council of the Board of Regents of the University and became the editor of Inter-Paul, the students’ bilingual (Canadian French and English) newspaper. He recalls St. Paul as “remarkably very inclusive, very involved, very pro-active when it comes to the life and activities of the university and sister schools.”
In Rome, he studied Roman Curia, Dicasteries and Tribunals of Rome.
Across the spectrum of the rich, middle-class and poor, he has remained God’s obedient servant. His parochial assignments took him to Annunziata Church, Community of St. Thomas Aquinas at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux. While he was a pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas, he introduced the child’s nativity play, family fun day and many upgrades and improvements to this personal place of worship. These improvements also include procuring centuries-old Stations of the Cross, upgrading the sound system and the light fixtures.
He is currently the pastor at the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales. He is also the current convenor of the National Association of Filipino Priests, a post he was appointed to, by Bishop Oscar Solis who will endeavor to unify and bring together over 900 Filipino priests serving throughout the United States at a conference this Nov. 8-11, 2011 in Los Angeles.
As God’s servant/leader, he travels far and wide, traversing continents of Europe, Asia and America to conduct youth/adult retreats and missions to various groups. Imbibing his mother’s teachings of “looking at things from the eyes of others and walking the mile in someone else’s shoes,” he immersed himself with the poor, living in their villages and in remote refugee centers in Zambia.
At the cathedral parish that he is assigned to in Houma, Mission Zambia supports the ministries of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate. Parishioners’ lenten contributions are sent to Zambia to “build homes for the elderly, abandoned and families who lost their village homes, to send 100 children, who lost their parents to AIDS, to schools, for blankets to brave the 20 degree F temperature at night and to send deserving young men from the refugee camp to the seminary.”
In every parish he is assigned to, in every diocese he is affiliated with, in every pilgrimage or retreat he leads, he is a devout God’s servant/leader and honors his calling by remembering the plight of others, just as his mother taught him, just as he learned from his mentors, including the late Most Reverend Warren L. Bordreaux, J.C.D., D.D. The first bishop of Houma-Thibodaux took a personal interest in inviting him to be part of the Notre Dame Seminary to pursue his Master’s in Divinity and to continue his formal studies in canon law and earn his current position as Judicial Vicar.
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