By Theresa Carson
On May 24, Most Rev. Robert Lombardo CFR, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, presided over the priestly ordination of six Divine Word Missionaries at Holy Child Jesus Church in Chicago. The Society of the Divine Word Chicago Province presents a series about the newly ordained priests. Today, we introduce Father Cruz Enrique Colunga SVD.
“I tried to run away from the vocations director,” newly ordained Father Cruz Enrique Colunga SVD said with a brilliant smile.
He was reflecting upon the early days of answering God’s call. Now he is leaning fully into his vocation.
Born in Zacatecas, Mexico, Father Colunga is the fourth of his parent’s six children. His father used to travel between Mexico and the United States for work. In 2004 when Father Colunga was 12, his father’s employer sponsored them for American citizenship, and the family moved to Liberty, Texas.
Father Colunga describes his family as very religious, especially on his mother’s side. To appease his mom, he would attend daily Mass with her. In Mexico, he served as an acolyte and continued in the United States in 2008 when they became citizens.
While attending Lee College in Baytown, Texas, he helped with retreats, served as a lector and became more involved in parish life. Being asked if he thought about becoming a priest was not uncommon, he said.
“I’d say, ‘I don’t know. If God wants me, I will go,’” recalls the young priest.
He said he hesitated to enter the seminary because he is an introvert. However, while studying at Divine Word College, the Society of the Divine Word’s seminary in Epworth, Iowa, he learned how to engage in social situations and recharge his battery later in quiet.
The diversity of the Society of the Divine Word attracted him, he said. When he first visited the congregation, he met people from more than two dozen countries. He admired how they shared their cultural celebrations, he said.
Since professing vows in 2019, Father Colunga has experienced many other cultures. For his Cross-Cultural Training Program (CTP), he had hoped to go to Angola. When the visa process stalled, a Brazilian province immediately accepted him.
At the beginning of his 18 months in Brazil, he lived at the São Paolo Theologate with men from Angola, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Paraguay. He then went to Brasilia for an intensive Portuguese program where newly arrived missionaries learned about the country’s history, culture and language.
Then, he was sent to Iguape, south of São Paolo, to serve in parish ministry. At first, he found the assignment difficult and lonely because for the first time during his formation, he was not with people his own age.
He and three priests served the basilica parish, as well as 22 communities. Every weekend, he’d travel into the communities, some of which would see a priest only once or twice a month. They traveled by boat, ship and ferry.
He led reflection time, formation of altar servers, a men’s rosary group and family ministry groups and accompanied parishioners in prayer.
Loneliness faded with time. He met women who made him feel like a son, families who invited him to their homes and children who sought to learn from him.
One of his altar servers felt a special connection to the seminarian. The ten-year-old wanted to buy a gift for his friend whom he might not see again. The boy sold his FIFA card collection to buy the gift—a Sacred Heart of Jesus statue—for Father Colunga.
“I was so moved that he sold stuff to buy that gift,” the priest said.
On another occasion, a six-year-old also named Enrique, marveled at their sharing a name and befriended the then-seminarian. The boy pointed out the family’s goats, dogs and chickens. He asked, “Do you want to play with me?”
They colored together in the kitchen among adults who were cooking.
“Isn’t it amazing how God sends people into our lives, so we’re not lonely—God manifesting himself in other people,” Father Colunga said.
He referenced Matthew 19:29.
“That Bible passage makes sense to me now,” he said. “I always had people in my life; God was always with me.”
He carries his newfound friends in his heart.
As a transitional deacon, Father Colunga served St. Peter parish in Pine Bluff, Ark.
For his first assignment, he will remain in the Chicago Province and serve St. Joseph the Worker, an intercultural parish with Spanish, English and Polish-speaking parishioners.