ALTON - St. Mary’s Catholic Church has welcomed Alton’s newest parochial vicar to their ranks.
Father Jorge Sanchez was recently ordained as a priest in the Catholic Church. He will now serve as the parochial vicar at St. Mary’s, meaning he will be at St. Mary’s until he is reassigned to another parish. Sanchez said he is looking forward to spending time in Alton and sharing his faith with the Riverbend community.
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“I’m here for as long as God wants me to be here in Alton, here in St. Mary’s,” he explained. “The people of St. Mary’s have been very welcoming and very loving, so I’m here for quite some time.”
Sanchez said his priesthood was “a long time coming.” Living in California, he became inspired after connecting with several priests in 2006. The priests were “down-to-earth and so approachable,” and Sanchez realized that he wanted the peace and wisdom that they had.
“I saw the priests, the way they would pray and preach, and I just kept saying, ‘I want that. I want whatever that guy has. I don’t know what it is, but I want it,’” Sanchez remembered. “And after that, I decided to join the church.”
In 2016, Sanchez joined the seminary with the Oblates of the Virgin Mary in Boston. He has spent the last eight years in priestly formation, a process that prepares people for the priesthood. On July 27, 2024, he was ordained as a priest in California.
Sanchez is thankful for the priests and other spiritual leaders who have helped him on his path to priesthood. He hopes to be a role model for other young priests and people who are beginning their faith journeys.
“One of my spiritual directors, he said to me one time, to become a father, a man must first be formed by other fathers,” he said. “The path to the priesthood has been just profoundly shaped by the guidance and example of my fellow Oblate brothers and spiritual fathers who have walked this church before me.”
While St. Mary’s is eager to welcome Sanchez as their newest parochial vicar, he isn’t new to St. Mary’s. As a religious brother, he spent a pastoral year at the church in 2021, where he ran the youth group and ministered to people. He noted that it’s a great experience to return to St. Mary’s, and he looks forward to engaging with the church community in his new role.
“St. Mary’s is definitely coming home,” he said. “Coming back now, when I came back as a deacon and now as a priest, it is just so, so exciting, such a blessing, just to be a part of other people’s lives and part of their journey. When I was getting ordained in California, I could just feel the weight and the beauty of this calling. The prayers and the support and the love that I felt from other people, whether in California or here in Alton, it just made it that much more special.”
Sanchez encourages anyone who feels lost to pray and talk to those they trust, including spiritual leaders, about God’s plan. He noted that God loves everyone, and no one has to go through life alone.
“There are so many people out there who have that feeling of, God can’t love someone like me because of what I said or what I’ve done or anything like that,” Sanchez said. “But God loves you. There’s nothing you can do about it. So if He loves you so much, come back. He’s waiting for you.”
For more information about St. Mary’s Catholic Church, visit their official website at StMarysAlton.com.
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