Greetings Quo Vadis family! It’s Deacon Lizandro. I am a transitional deacon who will be ordained with Deacon Daniel Whalen on May 23, God willing.
For those who might not know, my home parish is St. Alfred and it has been a HUGE blessing to be part of that community for quite some time! It truly has been my home since I was little and the people there have become family. I am BEYOND thankful for all the support I have received throughout the years I have been at the seminary! All the prayers, letters, financial support, and simply treating me like a son of the parish have really shaped who I am and the priest I want to be. That being said, I wanted to take some time to provide some details about my ordination as well as share information about my Masses of Thanksgiving. My ordination will be on May 23rd at 10am at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit (9844 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48202). As far as I know it is open to the public so anyone can attend. My First Mass of Thanksgiving will actually be at Most Holy Redeemer Church in Detroit at 3pm (1721 Junction Ave, Detroit, MI 48209) with a small gathering to follow afterwards. I wanted to explain why I will be doing my First Mass at Holy Redeemer instead of St. Alfred. Two reasons, 1) Space, St. Alfred is a bit small to hold everyone I would like to invite. It will be a Bilingual Mass and I’ve invited people from the different parishes I have served over the last few years. 2) I actually received my First Holy Communion at Most Holy Redeemer by Msgr.
Donald Hanchon (now Bishop Hanchon) and thought it would be beautiful to celebrate my First Mass at the parish where I received Jesus for the first time! HOWEVER, I will be celebrating another Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Alfred the following Sunday, May 31st. I will be doing both the 9:30am English and 12:30pm Spanish. I just wanted to share this so that there is no misunderstanding as to why I chose to do what I did. Everyone is welcome to come to any or all of the Masses during this time. Please continue to keep me, as well as my classmates (Daniel, Karl, and James), in your prayers as we approach priestly ordination. Thank you and God bless you!
