By Theresia Titus
Perth-ordained Father Rodrigo Tomala, who is now Parish Priest at Loganholme Parish St Matthew’s Catholic Church, Brisbane, celebrates 10 years of priesthood this week.
Fr Tomala was ordained on 6 August 2010 at St Mary’s Cathedral by Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey.
Originally from Ecuador, he was trained at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Morley, which prepares seminarians for priestly ministry under the guidance of the Neocatechumenal Way.
“I cannot recall any particular event from my memory, but what has always impressed me is how far God had taken me: from a little town in Ecuador to rebuilding my life when I did not have hope to live and made me a priest for his Church in Australia for the past ten years. God has been great to me,” Fr Tomala said.
“The vocation can be quite challenging over time, and the Church is becoming a minority and irrelevant for the secular Australian community.
“I am grateful I can still practice my vocation with the help of God and see the faithfulness of God every day,” he continued.
Fr Tomala told The Record that his vocation has helped him to grow as a person.
“By the grace of God, it has been a time of knowing the people. I have been able to do my ministry, not only as a service for the people but also for me,” he uttered.
“It’s a vocation that helps the growth of the people and the growth of myself.
“I have become more aware that I am someone for the people and be able to focus on other people rather than on my own needs; to think of the people, to think of the parish and making a way to put my interest second to the people.
“Treating the people more than my own needs is what the priesthood is all about for me,” he explained.
His journey began when he discovered the beauty of the Church and the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist.
When he saw there is a pressing need for priests in the Church to celebrate the Sacraments, Fr Tomala said he felt that God had called him to the priesthood.
It took Fr Tomala five to six years to answer God’s call, eventually entering the seminary in February 2001.
“My first thought of becoming a priest was to be able to provide the service and celebrate the Sacraments,” he said.
Following his ordination, Fr Tomala served as Assistant Priest at Cottesloe/Mosman Park Parish for a year before moving interstate to Melbourne, Victoria.
After serving in Melbourne for 10 months, Fr Tomala re-located to Queensland where he has been serving in the Archdiocese of Brisbane for eight years as part of the missionary spirit of the Neocatechumenal Way.
“I am a missionary priest, so I can be sent wherever the Church needs priests,” he said.
Fr Tomala told The Record that he looks to the spirituality of Saints Therese of Lisieux and Catherine of Siena to strengthen his vocation.
“I was given a relic [of St Therese of Lisieux] by the Carmelites [in Bunbury]. To me, it was as if the Carmelites gave me a ‘companion’, which I carried every day from the day I received it until now. She is the Saint that acts as a compass to me because of her spirituality,” he added.
“She became a saint by doing little things, and I can relate to her because I am not a priest of many talents; it is possible to become a priest through doing most things in limitations.
“I look up to her because she is the patron of missionaries,” he concluded.