St. Catherine of Alexandria Temecula

Dear parishioners of St. Catherine’s,
Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ!
My full name is Santos Leonel Ortega and by the
way, my name Santos in Spanish means saints
because I was born on the great feast of all Saints
on November 1 st and, of course, I was named after
this glorious feast.
I was born and raised in Guatemala Central
America. I come from a catholic family of six
children, four boys and two girls. I’m the number
four and the only one who has consecrated his life
to the religious life. I was about 11 years old when
I began to contemplate the idea of becoming a
priest and at the age of 14, I was accepted to the minor seminary in Guatemala.
Unfortunately, due to some family problems, three years later I left the minor
seminary and began to work in order to support my family financially.
1986, I came to California and in a few months later I became officially a
seminarian for this wonderful Diocese of San Bernardino. It was precisely on this
year 1986 that our Diocese of San Bernardino for the first time was opening a
house of formation for its future candidates to the priesthood. I moved in to Fray
Junipero Serra House of Formation which was next to St. Francis of Sales in
Riverside and began to attend the local colleges: RCC, USR, CAL State San
Bernardino. And after obtaining a BA in psychology and finishing my philosophy
requirement units, I began my last four years of theology and priesthood training
at St. John Mayor Seminary in Camarillo California and, by the grace of God; I
was ordained to the priesthood by our Bishop Gerald Barnes 16 years ago on May
31 st in 1996.
My first priest parish assignment was to the community of Saint St. George parish
in Ontario for the period of 3 years. My second parish assignment was to our
neighboring parish community of St. Martha in Murrieta. After two years, I left to
become the pastor of St. Joan of Arc in Victorville in the high desert. After five
years, left to become the pastor of Holy Family in Hesperia where I have spent
my last six years of my life. Now, here I am happy and looking forward to
minister and to share my priesthood with all of you for the next two years. Peace
and Love,
Rev. Santos L. Ortega