DOUBLE CELEBRATION FOR FATHER A !

Friday, June 27th was a very busy day at Our Lady of the Mountains Parish. Fr. Ariel Lustan celebrated his 20th anniversary as a priest and it was his farewell party from the parish and his school-All Saints Catholic. Nine of his years of ordination were spent in his homeland of the Philippines. The rest were spent in the Diocese of Tucson.

The celebration began with Mass. Altar servers, deacons and the Knights of Columbus were ready to begin the big celebration.

 

 

Fr. Ariel welcomed the Deacons from our parish and

vicariate who came to the celebration as well  priests from the vicariate.

 

After the 1st Reading was read the choir sang the response: You Are A Priest Forever-requested by Fr. Ariel.

 

 Fr. Bill from Tombstone gave the homily, recounting the journey of a seminarian to ordination.

At the offertory procession, the parish staff brought up the gifts. Special items brought up were the building plans for the parish rectory that Fr. Ariel spearheaded; and a certificate stating that the school mortgage 4 years ago was $420,000 and now in the 5th year of a 15 year mortgage is at $20,000!  The parishioners were shocked to hear this and broke into spontaneous applause!

 

 Fr. Mike, who will be the new pastor at Our Lady of the Mountains Parish, prayed a part in the Eucharistic Prayer.

 Fr. Greg Adolph, pastor at our neighboring parish at St. Andrew's in Sierra Vista, also shared in the Eucharistic Prayer.

The Consecration

 

 

 

 At the end of the Mass, Fr. Ariel thanked God the Father and his family for his vocation to the priesthood. He never thought he would make it this far.

 

 

 

After the Mass, all proceeded to the parish hall for a potluck dinner and short program thanking Fr. A for his four years of service to our parish.

 Deacon Bill, Parish Council President, gave words of thanks to Fr. Ariel.

 Deacon Reynaldo,  who assists with the Hispanic ministry gave thanks for Fr. A's involvement with the Hispanics in our parish.

Sister Carol, as principal, led her students in thanking Fr. A for his involvement with All Saints Catholic School.

 The students sang, "If We Hold On Together" as other students danced out the song.

Sr. Carol and students sang, "Welcome to the Family" that Fr. Ariel had requested the school choir to learn last year. It was a song sung in the Philippines for the Jubilee year of 2000!

Sr. Carol then read, "And on the 8th day God created a school pastor."

The faculty and students presented to Fr. A a book of their pictures and letters of appreciation to him.

 Time for a Group Hug!

We will all miss Fr. A. We pray for him as he goes on to St. Anthony of Padua's Parish and School in Casa Grande. May his gifts as a priest help them to grow in many ways especially in coming closer to Our Lord.