‘DON’T BE AFRAID’

Seminarian Daniel Vallejo has some advice for those who are thinking about answering God’s call to the priesthood.

“Don’t be afraid of your own personal story because (you think you are) not that holy or … because I did this or that or I have had these crazy experiences in my life. Never be afraid because God is going to call you if he wants and he is going to take care of that,” said Vallejo, who will be ordained a transitional deacon at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany at 11 a.m. on May 21. “I was a regular guy. I dated, spent time with my friends. I like to have fun in my life, but even in those moments, you are going to be able to see God working.” 

Vallejo, who is in his third year of theology at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Ill., added, “you don’t need to be special to be a priest.”

“You just need to be human and a good person because even the entire formation to the priesthood is more a process of being a pretty good man,” he said. “Be good for the people. Ordination is not magic; it’s not going to change you to be a good person. You are going to be able to bless and celebrate the Eucharist and do more sacramental work, but it is not going to change your personality. Don’t be afraid of who you are.” 

Vallejo, who was born in Colombia while his parents were visiting relatives on vacation but grew up in Barcelona, said his family (parents, Adriana and John, and his sister, Natalia) is not particularly religious and he never grew up wanting to be a priest. It wasn’t until he went to college that he thought about the vocation.

“I never considered the priesthood in my life when I was a kid or a teenager. When I went into university, I went to Pontifical Xavierian University in Colombia to do my undergraduate in philosophy then my masters in philosophy, too,” he said. “Pontifical University is a very Catholic University and that is how I started meeting priests and taking classes with seminarians because the first part of formation to be a priest is philosophy. I started meeting them and I started attending parish activities with some of them who became my friends and that is how I found that call to serve the people.”

But how did Vallejo, who holds passports from both Colombia and Spain, end up in the Diocese of Albany? As the call to the priesthood continued to get louder, Vallejo was on vacation in New York City and decided to visit the capital of the state.

While in Albany, he visited the Cathedral and corresponded with Father Anthony Ligato, the Vicar for Vocations in the Diocese of Albany. By October of the next year, he was an aspirant living in the old House of Formation in Watervliet. While in formation, Vallejo, 29, also had to learn English.

“It was amazing and it was challenging too because English is not my first language and when I moved there three years ago, it was difficult because I was taking English classes and trying to understand American culture more,” Vallejo said. “I grew up with Latinos in Colombia and people from Spain, and they both speak Spanish, but it is totally different. It was a huge challenge but an amazing spiritual experience to know more about the Diocese and to confirm my vocation.”

After doing pastoral work at St. Jude the Apostle in Wynantskill, St. Michael the Archangel in Troy and Holy Trinity in Cohoes, Vallejo moved to Chicago to continue his formation at St. Mary’s and do pastoral work at St. Raymond Penafort Church in Mount Prospect, Ill. After his ordination as a transitional deacon, he will join Father Quy Vo at Holy Spirit Church in East Greenbush from June until December, learning about how to be a priest on a daily basis; such as being able to baptize and marry people while assisting the pastor in the Masses. Then it is one more semester in Mundelein before his ordination to the priesthood next June at the Cathedral.

“I love to be able to pray with the people,” Vallejo said. “When you are in a position of leadership in the church you are used to having your time alone with God. Being able to lead the people into the path, into the journey to encounter Jesus in a spiritual way, that is amazing and that really makes me feel happy and helps me understand my call.”