Jo-Andre Beltran, 36

First assignment: St. Mary of the Woods
Color Education: Gattaran Elementary School, Cagayan National High School, University of the East, Thomas Aquinas Seminary, all in the Philippines
Parents: the late Antonio and Adelina Bingil Beltran
First Mass: 4 p.m. May 19 at St. Christina, 3:30 p.m. May 20 at St. Matthias and noon May 27 at St. Mary of the Woods

Becoming a priest is special for Jo-Andre Beltran but not out of the ordinary for his family. Upon ordination, he will become the fifth priest among his Beltran relatives. That does not include many cousins who also are priests but do not carry the Beltran surname.

It’s no wonder there have been so many vocations from the Beltran family. Watching priests work and play was commonplace for them.

“Our house was like a second rectory,” said Beltran. “It was only 15 steps from the church.”

Beltran credits his grandparents with planting the seed of his vocation.

“My grandparents daily went to the 5:30 a.m. Mass and took me with them,” he said. “I didn’t understand at first what it was about but they planted the seed of my vocation in my heart.”

Beltran says he did not realize the importance of his vocation until working in Buddhist Bangkok, Thailand.

“I missed the Catholic environment in which I was raised and volunteered with the Redemptorist Fathers, he said. “I did jail ministry and worked with refugees on free days.”

His vocation steered its course further when he met Bishop Clarence Duhart. “When Bishop Duhart went blind, I worked full-time for him,” said Beltran. “It was here I decided to become a servant of Christ.”

Beltran returned to the Philippines and trained for three years in the seminary there, but his parents already had moved to the United States and they asked him to become a priest in the archdiocese.

He hopes to spend much of his priesthood in evangelization—reaching out to his American brothers and those outside of the country. Beltran thinks more young people would be attracted to the religious life if they could see more of priests who are happy with their vocation.

“Priests need to be involved in others’ lives and show them we are real people,” Beltran said. “Many youngsters harbor wrong impressions of what priests’ lives really are like. Some think they lead conservative, ‘locked-in-the-seminary-type’ existences. We must bait them with our happy lives.”

Other ordinations:
Jo-Andre Beltran
Paul Duy Duc Cao
Mark Greschel
Miguel Angel Martinez Figueroa
Michael J. Novick
Edward J. Pelrine
Kombo Livingstone Peshu
Robert William Schultz Jr.
Paul Charles Stein
Walter Antonio Yepes Galvis