Catholic Outlook August 2016

PARISH PROFILE
Fr Alejandro answers God’s call: ‘I want all of you’
By Elizabeth McFarlane
DRAWN TO God’s design for his
life, Fr Alejandro Lopez OFM Conv
left his job as a graphic designer to
join the Conventual Franciscans.
Born in Havana, Cuba, Fr Alejandro split
his early years between St Louis, Missouri,
and Sarasota, Florida.
He studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts at
Washington University in St Louis, and it
was there that he met an Ursuline Sister
and two Conventual Franciscan students,
who each influenced him in his faith.
“They helped me to grow in my faith.
They helped me to discover a God of love
and mercy that I had wanted to serve since
childhood when my father taught me
about the lives of saints,” he said.
“I was in my early 20s when I met the
American Sister. She had studied in France
and she knew a lot about Karl Rahner,
a Jesuit Theologian. His view is that the
world is good and grace filled - that God
loves us in spite of our sinfulness and that
our sins can never null that love that is
always present.
“I had never heard that before and this
Ursuline Sister was a witness to it by her
own way of living. She was a woman who,
when I met her, was probably in her 40s
or 50s and had already striking white hair.
“She was very grandmotherly in nature
and the perfect image of this love of God.
She was Irish and German descent with
a great wit and sharp mind. She really
inspired me.
“Before meeting her, I don’t think I really
embraced the faith as my own. After that,
there was a conversion experience.”
Ordained to the priesthood on 24 May
2003, Fr Alejandro’s discernment of
vocation was not without its trials. Having
worked for 10 years as a graphic designer,
he agonised over whether or not to join the
order.
“I was in my graphic design world but
I wasn’t happy. I felt like something was
missing in my life,” Fr Alejandro explained.
"I feel I was
Franciscan even
before I was
Franciscan."
Fr Alejandro was and is a talented artist.
"But it felt like it wasn’t what I was supposed
to be doing. I felt myself becoming more
introverted and that I was cutting myself
off from the world.
“I was basically walling myself up and
I didn’t like the kind of person I was
becoming. I had become self-centred and
it wasn’t healthy.”
Keeping in touch with the Ursuline
Sister, she advised him to pray.
“She told me to light a candle and to just
ask the Lord what it is that He wants of me.
She told me to be persistent and to keep
asking. Eventually, the answer came. He
wanted all of me,” Fr Alejandro said.
“I tried to offer part of me but it wasn’t
fulfilling and it didn’t work. I kept praying
and it came to me, ‘I want all of you.’
“I was Franciscan before I joined. I can’t
say I knew Francis very well growing up
but I did like nature. It grew organically. It
was a realisation that came naturally.”
On his days off, Fr Alejandro goes hiking
and enjoys exploring the beauty of nature.
“I see the goodness of creation. I am
attracted to the humanity of Christ and it
draws me in, more so than any other image
of Christ. And so I feel I was Franciscan
even before I was Franciscan,” he said.
Fr Alejandro is the Parish Priest of Our
Lady of the Rosary Parish in Kellyville and
believes the Franciscans bring the goods of
the earth to the parish.
“The Franciscans are lovers of nature.
St Francis saw the imprint of God in
everything. He was the one who started the
Stations of the Cross because he wanted
people to be present in the last moments
of Christ in the Passion,” Fr Alejandro
explained.
“He wanted people to witness and grow
in appreciation of the humanity of Christ
and we can witness that in the Stations of
the Cross at our Shrine in Kellyville.
“There is a great mix of people in this
parish and there is a great sense that we are
all in this together. Everything is so rushed
in today’s world, but here in Kellyville
there is an opportunity to slow down to
make time to pray to the Lord and ask what
He wants of you.”
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Fr Alejandro Lopez OFM Conv left his job as a graphic designer to join
the Conventual Franciscans.
PHOTO: ELIZABETH MCFARLANE.
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