JOURNEY: Father Porras answers call to holiness

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

A story-telling teacher and gatherings of school families in Venezuela.
A pastor in Worcester.
A move from there to here, thanks to concerned parents.
These are among people and experiences Father Alfredo Raúl Porras talks about when sharing his journey to the priesthood.
Father Porras was born in Venezuela.
“It’s generally a Catholic country,” he said. “It was common for our family to go to Mass each Sunday.”
He attended schools run by Opus Dei, even though his family did not belong to that personal prelature, he said.
School families socialized with each other, sometimes praying the rosary or lighting an Advent wreath. The children played together.  
“That sort of environment, combined with really good catechesis in the schools” gave him a good awareness of the faith, Father Porras said.
His second-grade teacher, Daniel Reinoso, now deceased, told the students stories of St. John Bosco and St. Dominic Savio.
“He was great,” Father Porras said. “You could tell he wanted to share this with us.” He wanted his students to be like the saints. He laid the foundation of living out the faith, without which a person cannot have any other vocation, since the call to holiness comes first, Father Porras said.
But there were problems in the political arena. Venezuela’s socialist government took possession of private companies and tried to dictate what Catholic schools could do, and living there was physically dangerous, Father Porras said.
So when he was 13, he and his parents moved to Massachusetts. (His siblings had finished college. His brother, missing the family, came to Massachusetts later. His sister moved to California for further studies, then to Worcester.)
Young Alfredo entered eighth grade at Holy Name Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School. He describes it as a wonderful Catholic school with joyful people who welcomed him, which was especially helpful when he barely spoke English.
The first year was hardest, but then “I started to appreciate more the sacrifice that my parents were making, specifically so I could get a better education and a better environment to grow up in,” he said.
They first lived in Paxton, then Shrewsbury, then Worcester, where his parents still live, he said. They tried different churches, and settled at St. Joan of Arc with its Spanish Mass.
The pastor, Father José A. Rodríguez, learned that Alfredo played the flute. His music teacher at Holy Name had issued an invitation to join the concert band and Father Rodríguez suggested he also play in the parish’s youth choir.
“I would play the flute during Mass, which was very helpful,” Father Porras said. “The faith was very much part of the culture in Venezuela, but not necessarily here. So practicing the faith had to be more of a choice. And having the commitment to play music at Mass kept me grounded around the Eucharist.”
He wondered if he could be a priest.
“The question was there, but it seemed like something very foreign to me,” he said. He wasn’t familiar with the day-to-day life of priests, though he sometimes saw at family gatherings his father’s two cousins who were bishops. (One has since died. The other, Cardinal Baltazar Porras Cardozo, came from Venezuela for Father Porras’ ordination June 22.)
“Without me telling him anything, Father Rodríguez invited me to go to the annual vocations retreat,” Father Porras said. “It was perfect timing, so I said ‘yes.’” He said he was very impressed with the priests who helped with the retreat.
“But I realized I wasn’t ready yet,” he said. “I needed to have a stronger prayer life and I needed to learn how to live the call to holiness right there and then where I was, as a young, 18-year-old man. So I decided to go to college.”
He enrolled at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he double majored in computer science and interactive media and game development (making computer games).
Freshman year, when he lived on campus, he attended Mass there. Sophomore year he commuted and went to St. Joan of Arc, where he played at the Spanish Mass. Junior year he got involved with the WPI Newman Club, playing for campus Masses and meeting other students eager to grow in their faith. They hung out together, praying the rosary, discussing catechetical topics and going to adoration at Assumption College, which helped confirm his vocation.
He also became more certain about his vocation as he attended the diocese’s annual vocations retreats. Senior year he lived at Holy Name of Jesus House of Studies as a college student seriously considering priesthood, he said.
“I saw the Lord leading me, very gently, along the way and confirming every step,” he said.
He was very, very happy to start seminary after college, and loved Mount St. Mary’s, in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he got a certificate in philosophy.
“The community life was very joyful,” he said. “They enjoyed beautiful liturgy and they were also very zealous in ministry and bringing the faith to others.” Seminarians and faculty members made mission trips to other universities to evangelize students.
Father Porras said he also did parish evangelization door to door and weekly visits, mostly to nursing home residents, through the Legion of Mary.
Later Bishop McManus sent him to Rome, where he got his bachelor’s in sacred theology and is working on his licentiate in sacred theology. He returns to Rome for his final year in September, after spending the summer at St. Paul Cathedral.