A Long Journey to the Alter — The Ordination of Mario Loya

Mario Loya began his journey in Carmel in 1996 at Casa Santa Teresita in Houston, Texas. This summer he took another step on this journey with his ordination to the priesthood. The ordination was held In the highly ornate and beautiful Templo de Nuestra Senora del Carmen in the downtown historic district of Mexico City on Saturday, May 15th.

This church, administered by the Discalced Carmelites since 1804, is filled with paintings and statues of all the Carmelite saints—a perfect locale for the ordination of a Carmelite. An auxillary bishop of Mexico City, the Very Reverend Marcelino Hernandez Rodriguez presided, with many Carmelites from both Mexico and the United States attending. The music was provided by the Carmelite prenovices from Casa del Carmen (Mexico City) and Casa Santa Teresita (Houston).

	Carmelites Emmett Gavin (left) and John Russell, Jose Luis Torres, and Bruce Taggart (right) concelebrate with Father Mario Loya (center)

The next day Father Mario celebrated his first Mass of Thanksgiving in the convent chapel of the Sisters of the Immaculate Infant, and then at the Chapel of Saint Joseph at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Mario was born in 1966 in town of Coatzacoalcos, in the Mexican state of Vera Cruz (east of Mexico City, on the Gulf of Mexico).

He began college at the National University of Mexico, majoring in geology, and then transferred to the Pontifical University of Mexico, majoring in philosophy, graduating in 1994. In 1996 he entered the Carmelite Formation program, taking simple vows in 1998 and solemn (final) vows in 2002. He is currently assigned as associate pastor at Saint Jane de Chantal Parish in North Hollywood, California.