1
2
3
Congratulations Fr. Antony on your Silver 25th Anniversary as a Priest! Engineers: Leslie & Claire Dacillo-Alejandrino & Family Children: Nick & Ethyl Karashima, Ty & Eileen Hindman, Leif & Annie Tran-Alejandrino, and Ben & Liz De Los Reyes. Grand Children: Kyndall, Madison, Leinnie, Leia, Bashiri, Itzel & Finn 4
By: Bavie Tagle Bernie H. Matute, Robert Mudiyappan, Ansberto V. Paredes, Peter Vergaz, Virgil C. Aoanan, S. Rajakumar, Ana Marie Sacro Congratulations Father Antony Gaspar!! Happy 25th Anniversary of priestly ordination!! Mother Theresa Foundation—Long Beach, CA. 5
6
REV. DR. ANTONY GASPAR A Brief Biography I was born on 16th March 1966 to deeply religious Catholic parents, the late Mr. K.V. Antony and Mrs. Kanickai Mary in a village known as Kosavapatty, in the State of Tamil Nadu, Southern part of India. I was blessed to grow up with five siblings: one brother and four sisters. I am the third one among 6 children to my lovely parents. All of us are deeply Catholic. Since my childhood, I admired my Pastor, particularly when he celebrated Mass, and developed a desire to become like him one day. This desire allowed me to enter the seminary after my high school in 1982, and thus began my journey to the priesthood. Upon completing my seminary formation and college studies in Philosophy and Theology, I went to Taiwan as a missionary. I was ordained as a transitional deacon in 1997, and as a Catholic Priest on May 3, 1998, in the Diocese of Hsinchu, Taiwan. It was the most joyful day of my life. I am so grateful to my family, and particularly to Mr. Vedamanickam for their selfless support in my journey to priesthood. After my ordination to the priesthood, I served as an Associate Pastor for two years and as a Pastor for five years in the Diocese of Hsinchu. Then I discerned to further my knowledge in Pastoral Theology and Education. I was admitted to the graduate studies at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles where I completed my master’s degree in 2008 and doctoral studies in education in 2013. When I decided to come to Los Angeles, I requested an assignment from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles with the help of the Vincentian fathers from the Philippines who were administrating Holy Family Church, Artesia, at that time. I was assigned as an Associate Pastor at Holy Family Church, Artesia, in July 2005. The Vincentian fathers had graciously welcomed me to serve at their Parish. I was so grateful for their warm hospitality and support. Upon completing my term there, I was assigned as an Associate Pastor at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, Rowland Heights in July 2010, and at St. Linus Church, Norwalk in July 2013. Finally, I was assigned to St. Barnabas Church as an Administrator in October 2014 and as Pastor in July 2016. 7
20 May 2023 8
20 May 2023 9
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS We would like to thank our special contributors and donors for your generous support in helping make this event a success! God Bless you! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VT ASSOCIATES, INC. — ANAHEIM, CA ALDEN & MARY HUTCHINSON LEONARD GUTIERREZ CHARLES V. STAUDT JUN & IMELDA MATUTE PAUL & HELGA CRAWFORD ARC VASQUEZ FR. BERNARD’S BIBLE STUDY MEMBERS Designed by: Sam Christi 10
MINISTERS OF THE LITURGY PRINCIPAL CELEBRANT Bishop Marc V. Trudeau, D.D, V.G Auxiliary Bishop, Archdiocese of Los Angeles CONCELEBRATING BISHOP Bishop M. Devadass Ambrose Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Tanjore, India CONCELEBRATING PRIESTS MASTER OF CEREMONIES Rev. Antony Gaspar Rev. Bernard Santiago Deacon Frank Gonzalez St. Barnabas St. Barnabas Assistant to the Bishop Rev. Tony Astudillo Rev. Thomas Asia DEACONS St. Lorenzo Ruiz St. Martha Rev. Anthony Gomez Rev. Albert Pragasam DEACON OF THE WORD DEACON OF THE ALTAR St. Philip the Apostle Divine Saviour Deacon John Manalo Deacon Leonard Sun Holy Family Church Diocese of Orange Rev. Budi Wardhana Rev. Peter Amaladas St. Lucy Diocese of Dindigul, India Rev. Joseph Xavier Rev. Msgr. Gary Bauler ALTAR SERVERS Diocese of Alexandria, LA Retired Jayden Vazquez Briana Lerch Brenden Vasquez Christian Lerch Rev. Jerome Patrick Rev. Paneer Selvam Arjun Panickaveetil Olivia Zamora Diocese of LaCrosse, WI Diocese of Jackson, MS Jesse Moreno, Jr. Rev. Reegan Xavier Rev. Christu Amaldas LECTORS Priest in Residence Priest in Residence Sahaya Fatima Rev. Bruno John Selvam Anna Sanchez Diocese of New Ulm, MN John Santos GIFT BEARERS CHOIRS & INSTRUMENTALISTS FLAG OF THE USA CHALICE Holy Family Choir, Dobie Tan, Cantor Phil & Evelyn Reher Francis & Olivia Baylen Cynthia Tan - Director Simeon and Team, FLAG OF INDIA BREAD & WINE Kyra Tan, Pianist Indian Choir Josephine Antony Robert & Sahaya Fatima Isabella Villa-Quintero, HOLY BIBLE Mudiyappan Violinist Dona Trenkle COLLECTION VESTMENTS & STOLE Megala Periaswamy Sam Christi SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING MINISTRIES AND THEIR TEAMS Emcee – Brian Sapsky Indian Dancer (before Mass) Worship Environment Team - Olivia Almodovar & Volunteers Sacristans – Sahlee Balajadia, Armando Pablo, Lorna Ramos, Zaldy Aldomovar Lector Ministry – Marina Cuico Altar Server Ministry – Erika Moreno Usher/Greeter Ministry – Darrell Stewart Knights of Columbus Color Guard – Greg Czopek Photo Slide Show – Francis & Olivia Baylen Parish Office Staff – Sam Christi, Dona Trenkle, Andrea Marquez, Reggie Villegas & Olivia Baylen 11
12
13
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Twenty-five years as a priest has gone like twenty-five days! The Lord has been so gracious to me. Despite of my unworthiness, He has called me to serve Him. Like the apostles, I encountered moments of doubt, thoughts or feelings of inadequacy and tremendous challenges along the way in my journey to the priesthood and during my 25 years of priestly life. As St Paul would say the grace of God has been so sufficient and tremendous which kept me going thus far. I am so thankful to God for the gift of my vocation to the priesthood and I beg my Lord to continue to strengthen me and guide me in my Priestly Ministry. It is a blessed and joyous occasion in my life today. Each of you who are present here has taken time from your busy schedule to celebrate with me today. I’m eternally grateful for each of you. My sincere thanks go to Bishop Mark and Bishop Ambrose Devadass for celebrating this mass. I’m grateful to the priests who have traveled from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Mississippi; and also to priests and deacons from our local churches. They’re so wonderful to be here with us. Thank you for your gracious presence. We appreciate friends from Edmonton, Canada; the parish communities from Holy Family, Artesia; St Elizabeth Ann Seton, Roland Heights; St Linus Church, Norwalk; the Southern California Velankanni Tamil Community; San Diego Chinese Catholic Community; Cerritos Chinese Catholic Community; Rowland Heights Chinese Catholic Community; and friends from Oregon, other parts of California and other states. Your gracious presence is my blessing and thank you for your tremendous support to my priesthood all these years. The age old saying is “it takes a village to raise a child.” It is so true in the case of an individual becoming a priest. There are many individuals who acted as an instrument of God in my life helping to nourish my vocation to the priesthood. I’m profoundly grateful to my grandparents Gabriel and Motcha Mary and Vishwasam Savariammal and to my parents, Mr K.V. Antony, who has gone to be with the Lord, and my mother Mrs Kanickai Mary who planted the seed of faith in me and nurtured it to grow. And my siblings Jayaraj, Dennis Mary, Josephine Rita, Amala Pushpa Rani, Sehaya Fatima and all their family members for their love and support in my journey to the priesthood. My profound gratitude goes to Mr. Vedamanikam whose love, care and support at a very critical stage of my life was tremendous and helpful. I’m grateful to my home parish priests, religious nuns, and teachers in my village Catholic school who lay the solid foundation in my Catholic faith. My gratitude goes to all priests, classmates and friends during my seminary formation. I’m so grateful to Bishop Luke Liu, the Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Hsinchu in Taiwan for ordaining me to the sacred order of the priesthood. All parish communities that I served were so gracious, friendly, and welcoming. I am so thankful for their love and support, and particularly for allowing me to serve God with them. I am grateful for each one of you for allowing me to minister to your spiritual needs, and thus serve God for which I have been called as a priest. Your spirituality, faith practices, love and care continue to enrich my priesthood and ministry. I am so grateful for each one of you. I am profoundly thankful to many families and dear friends here in Los Angeles for considering me as one of their own and supporting me in many ways in my priestly ministry. I came to our wonderful parish of Saint Barnabas Church in October 2014 and since then each one of you have been so gracious with your love, care and support to my priesthood. You have been a blessing in helping me to live my priestly commitment each day. I thank each of you on this profound and very special day. There are many hours and much effort that has been put into planning for this special day. I’m grateful for the Silver Jubilee Planning Committee, Office Staff, and many volunteers for your hard work in planning this day. Thanks to our entire liturgy team for making the celebration a memorable one for me. And finally, if I missed anyone that I couldn’t recognize individually personally know that I am so profoundly grateful for your love, care and support. Please continue to pray for me that I may joyfully serve the Lord as his servant. Thank you for coming today and enjoy the rest of the celebration. May God bless you! Sincerely in Christ, Rev. Dr. Antony Gaspar 14
SILVER JUBILEE RECEPTION Caterers Indian Food: Anjappar Chettinad Restaurant Servers Filipino/American Food: Bahay Kainan Filipino-American Association Beer Garden CANA Marriage Renewal Ministry Wine Bar Janet Faria Margarita Bar Sean & Michelle Farragher Monica Ahle Darrell Stewart Event Photographer Pablo Oliveros Entertainment Alexander Turla: Hip-Hop K-Pop Dancing Decorations Nonie’s Dance Group: Dance Performance Jason: Drumming “Eagles” Pilgrimage Group: Jerusalem Line Dance Jason & Austin: Indian Dance DJ Christopher Galang: Saxophone Bollywood Dance Group: Indian Dance “Eagles” Pilgrimage Group: Re-enactment-Life of Fr. Antony DJ Christopher Galang: Music Olivia Almodovar, Monica Viramontes, Deb Ryan, Rhina Ovalle Silver Jubilee Planning Chairperson & Logistics: Sam Christi Committee Liturgy & Master of Ceremonies: Brian Sapsky Special thanks for their help Food & Beverages: Mariza Cordeta & support Decorations: Roel Javonillo Entertainment: Bernie Matute Special Projects: Monica Viramontes, Claritz Vergel Souvenir Program: Christina Salas & Bernie Matute; Brian Sapsky & OJSGraphix (Editors), Don Lumbera/Print Status (Printer) Banners/Promotions/Social Media: Olivia Baylen David Zanatta, Bill Mueller, Manny Magallanes, Augustus St. Jean, Reggie Villegas, Dona Trenkle, Andrea Marquez, Knights of Columbus, SBS-Parent Volunteers, all Parish Volunteers Our sincere apology to those whose names that may have been misspelled, wrongly placed, or inadvertently omitted. Thank you all very much for your understanding, generosity and continued support. ~ The Souvenir Program Team 15
16
17
SAINT MATTHEW CATHOLIC CHURCH 672 Temple Ave., Long Beach, CA 90814 Parish Office (562) 439-0931 | Fax (562) 434-7621 Web– www.stmatthewlb.org Congratulations Fr. Antony Gaspar! Greetings from Pastor– Fr. Randy Campos & St. Matthew’s Catholic Church—Long Beach 18
Congratulations Fr. Antony Gaspar On your 25th Silver Jubilee of the Priesthood! May God Bless you always. +++++++++ - St. Lucy Catholic Community & Fr. Budi Wardhana (Pastor) 252 Granada Avenue Long Beach, CA 90803 562-438-3826 stbartholomewcclb.org Congratulations Fr. Antony Gaspar! God Bless, Fr. Mark A. Strader (Pastor) & St. Bartholomew Catholic Community 19
2023 FIRST HOLY COMMUNION CLASS 20
Council #3449 appreciates your spiritual guidance as Council Chaplain for many years. -Greg Czopek (Grand Knight) 21
22
23
24
25
26
~ 27
28
29
Congratulations Fr. Antony! Greetings from: Joe & Elizabeth Cantu ~ Safeguard the Children 30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
SanJuditasLBC.com 40
“CONGRATULATIONS FATHER ANTONY!” 41
42
43
44
45
Congratulations Father Antony ! From: Ewa & Jarek Grabarek Greetings on your 25th year of priesthood.. may God continue to bless you as our shepherd. 46
Congratulations to Fr. Antony on his 25th Ordination Anniversary! ~ Dr. Benjamin Sy & Family 47
48
and Family 49
Congratulations to our Pastor — Fr. Antony on 25 Years of Priesthood! Thanks for all you do for St. Barnabas Catholic Church. May God bless you always. Love, Cesar Alfonso II, Tess Alfonso & Family 50
Search
