‘TRUST IN GOD’

Father Rendell Torres starts new ministry as a spiritual director at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary

Father Rendell Torres, former rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, returns to the seminary where he studied — Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary — to become a spiritual director. (Mike Matvey photo)

The Friday after Easter this year, Father Rendell Torres was getting ready to tell Bishop Mark O’Connell something important.

Father Torres, then the rector of the Cathedral, lived down the hall from Bishop Mark and wanted him to know that on Divine Mercy Sunday he was going to tell the parishioners of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Historic St. Mary’s on Capitol Hill and St. Francis of Assisi — then known as the “Historic Albany Parish Network” — how much they needed to contribute to the Child Victims Act (CVA) settlement.

“I just wanted him to know that in case he heard about it,” Father Torres said. “And he said, ‘Thank you for letting me know.’ And then he paused and looked at me and he said, ‘I’m going to rock your world.’ And I looked at him and a million things were going through my mind.

“And he said, ‘Pope John wants you.’ And I thought, ‘Pope John is dead. What does Pope John want with me?’ And he looked at me and said, ‘Pope John Seminary, you know — where you went to seminary.’ And I said, ‘What do they want from me?’ ”

As it turns out, Bishop Mark had gotten a call from an old friend — Archbishop Richard Henning of the Archdiocese of Boston — and Pope St. John ­XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Mass., which is just 16 miles due east of Boston, was looking for a spiritual director.

After a phone interview and a visit to the seminary at the end of April, Father Torres discerned that even though he was just named rector of the Cathedral in 2025, this was what God wanted, and he had to follow God’s will. After finishing his duties in the Diocese of Albany, he started at the seminary on Aug. 1.

“It felt good,” he said of his visit and new position. “It felt like I was at home there. I had gone to seminary there myself. I was in my 30s when I went there and that’s what that seminary was established for, in the 1960s, to provide formation for older men who are at a different point of maturation than guys coming out of college.”

Founded by Boston Archbishop Richard Cushing in 1964, Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary is designed for priesthood candidates aged 30 and above. Father Torres said he had a classmate who was ordained at the age of 70 and just this year, a 75-year-old was ordained after formation in the place that Father Torres calls “a special seminary.”  

During his discernment about whether he wanted to leave the Cathedral for four years and become a spiritual director, he began thinking about the CVA and what priests could do to be part of the healing process.

“I think some people have the impression that priests aren’t hurt by it,” he said. “I was praying about, ‘Lord, what can we do to make reparation for the sins of the priests?’ When I was asked to go there, I thought this is one way I can contribute a little bit to make up for my brothers’ past sins and my own sins.”

In his new job as a spiritual director, Father Torres said he will meet with the seminarians and “facilitate their relationship with Christ … Instead of just knowing about God, they need to know Christ. They need to have a relationship with him and learn how to listen to him. Not only to tell him things when we pray, but to receive from him, his words or encouragement, his mercy, his affection. A spiritual director helps seminarians to get to know God and discern his will.”

During his interview with The Evangelist, Father Torres also fondly looked back at his 16 years as a priest in the Diocese of Albany — he was ordained at the Cathedral in 2010 — and the places he has ministered at, which included Holy Spirit in Gloversville, his first assignments as a pastor at Our Lady of Hope in Whitehall, St. Ann in Fort Ann, the Chapel of the Assumption in Huletts Landing, then St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Richfield Springs and West Winfield, and finally the Cathedral, Historic St. Mary’s and St. Francis of Assisi. 

“I would hope that people believed that I had tried to always do God’s will; to understand God’s will and to do it even if it wasn’t always my first choice or preference,” he said. “I did not seek out (this new position). It was a surprise to me. I have only been here a short time. I believe it’s God’s will and if it’s God’s will, we should all be at peace because it is not just the best for me or the seminary, but for everyone that is affected by this change. … God must have a desire for something better than me remaining here (at this assignment), and I want people to believe that and trust in God.”