
Greensburg Central Catholic Junior Senior High School: Campus ministry director helps students live their faith

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- Diocese News, Catholic Schools
By Susan Mazur
Contributing Writer
“I never thought I would become a priest. That was not my plan.”
So says Father Jay Jacinto, Greensburg Central Catholic Junior-Senior High School’s Director of Campus Ministry, as he recalls his journey to the priesthood.
“I was a happy-go-lucky guy,” he said, so becoming a priest “was a really big decision for me.”
In 1995, 18-year-old Jay Jacinto was formulating his life’s plan. A freshman in college, he spent his days in the Philippines working toward a career in civil engineering and his nights performing professionally as a member of a local dance troupe. If he found a bit of free time, exercise or team sports were on the agenda.
But in January 1995 all that changed. He had met up with his friends that day to watch a game on TV, but the broadcast was interrupted by breaking news: Pope John Paul II had just landed in Manila for World Youth Day. When Father Jacinto saw him descend from the plane and kneel to kiss the ground, he was intrigued.
“Who is this guy?” he asked his buddies.
His friends were stunned. “Don’t you know him? It’s the pope!”
Father Jacinto followed the coverage of Pope John Paul II throughout the event and began attending Mass daily, becoming more engaged in his Catholic faith.
“There was something in his personality that really drew me in,” he said, something that caused him to pause his regular activities for a week to spend time quietly thinking and praying about becoming a priest. “I realized that something had changed in me.”
He decided to learn more about the journey toward ordination. His mother was not enthused.
“What?” she asked. “Are you sick?”
Her lack of enthusiasm seemed harsh; she wouldn’t even give him bus fare to attend an orientation session. But her attitude softened when he returned with the idea to try the seminary for only one year, then make a final decision to be sure he was following God’s plan.
When that year ended, “I was certain that I wanted to wear the cassock,” he said. “There was no turning back.”
After his ordination, Father Jacinto earned a master’s degree in education and was assigned to various administrative positions in the Diocese of Caceres in the Philippines, eventually becoming rector of a seminary there, yet he longed to get out among the people. He volunteered for his diocese’s Caeres Mission Aid Program, which sends priests abroad at the request of bishops from other dioceses. That was when the Diocese of Greensburg came calling.
He likes to work with young people, and as Director of Campus Ministry at GCC, he’s responsible for the students’ faith formation. He also offers them spiritual direction and creates opportunities for them to be of service to the school, church and greater community, he said.
He supervises and helps the students plan events like family faith nights, retreats and Bible prayer groups.
Father Jacinto makes it a priority to help the students “discover how they can live their faith out in everyday life” by “encouraging them to attend Mass and confession regularly and to receive the Eucharist often.” He stresses that, as Catholics, we should not be shy about sharing our faith in any situation, be it in a grand way or through a small gesture.
And he takes his own advice on that point, always willing to discuss his spiritual devotions, especially his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through her title as Our Lady of Peñafrancia, the Blessed Mother is venerated throughout the Philippines. She is a particularly powerful advocate for the sick, and Father Jacinto felt that power in his own life. He believes that, by her intercession, he was cured of a debilitating condition that had left him almost paralyzed and nearly derailed his journey to the priesthood.
He also likes to demonstrate how it’s possible to live the faith by participating in secular activities. As a seminarian, he began competing in Iron Man competitions as a way to stay fit. These competitions can be grueling — swimming for 2.4 miles, biking for 112 miles and running a full marathon. When he signed up for his first Iron Man, he didn’t even know how to swim.
He is often asked to celebrate Mass before a race, so the other runners know he’s a priest, but they also get to know him in the less formal setting of the event.
By demonstrating that “that a priest doesn’t just say Mass or is always praying or reading the Bible, but … can have a life outside the church,” Father Jacinto said he is “able to inspire young people (by showing them) another side” of priestly life.
“It’s a good way to encourage vocations and evangelize the young people.”
In addition to his duties at GCC, Father Jacinto serves as Parochial Vicar of Mother of Sorrows Parish, Murrysville, St. John Baptist de La Salle Parish, Delmont and St. Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Export.
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