{"id":195608,"date":"2026-04-13T16:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/195608\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:35:07","slug":"13-st-johns-university-students-complete-ocia-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/195608\/","title":{"rendered":"13 St. John\u2019s University Students Complete OCIA Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Cisneros prays over the St. John\u2019s University OCIA students before administering the sacred rite of confirmation. (Photos: Michael Rizzo)<\/p>\n

by Michael Rizzo\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

JAMAICA \u2014\u00a0One baptism, five first\u00a0Communions,\u00a0and\u00a013 confirmations marked the\u00a0sacred\u00a0rites that\u00a0were\u00a0celebrated\u00a0on April 12\u00a0for\u00a0the 13\u00a0St.\u00a0John\u2019s University\u00a0students\u00a0who\u00a0had\u00a0completed the Order\u00a0of\u00a0Christian Initiation of\u00a0Adults\u00a0(OCIA)\u00a0and\u00a0were\u00a0fully\u00a0initiated\u00a0into\u00a0the Church.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Auxiliary Bishop\u00a0Emeritus\u00a0Octavio Cisneros\u00a0celebrated\u00a0the 5:30 p.m.\u00a0Mass, attended by about 250 people,\u00a0at\u00a0the university\u2019s\u00a0St. Thomas More\u00a0Church on\u00a0its\u00a0Jamaica campus.\u202f\u00a0It was the 17th\u00a0year that\u00a0Bishop Cisneros administered\u00a0the sacred rites\u00a0to\u00a0catechumens\u00a0there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

OCIA students\u00a0spend\u00a0a year of study and reflection at St. John\u2019s\u00a0on\u00a0the Catholic faith before\u00a0receiving\u00a0their sacraments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0initiation takes place\u00a0at St. John\u2019s University\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0Sunday after Easter\u00a0rather than\u00a0at the\u00a0school\u2019s\u00a0Easter\u00a0Vigil Mass because many students leave campus\u00a0for the\u00a0university\u2019s\u00a0Easter\u00a0break.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Easter Vigil Illuminates Faith Journeys of 1,288 New Catholics<\/a><\/p>\n

Isaac\u00a0Contreras,\u00a019,\u00a0was the sole\u00a0catechumen\u00a0to be\u00a0confirmed,\u00a0receive\u00a0first Communion, and\u00a0be\u00a0baptized.\u00a0Four other students joined Contreras in\u00a0receiving\u00a0Communion for the first\u00a0time\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0Mass.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Corona native,\u00a0who grew up worshipping at a non-denominational\u00a0Protestant\u00a0church, said he identified with St. Augustine\u2019s own struggles in following Christianity until he discovered Catholicism. Now, he said he wants to put his faith\u00a0into\u00a0action.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to continue living a life that pleases Christ. I\u00a0want to inspire those around me to understand\u00a0that,\u201d\u00a0explained\u00a0Contreras, who plans\u00a0to\u00a0attend St. Leo the Great Church in Corona.\u00a0\u201cGod is not just the God of the privileged. He is for everyone. I want to take God everywhere I go\u00a0with me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Richard Perez, a 20-year-old\u00a0senior\u00a0from Holy Child\u00a0Parish in Richmond Hill, was\u00a0among\u00a0the\u00a012\u00a0other\u00a0OCIA\u00a0students\u00a0confirmed.\u00a0Perez\u00a0received\u00a0his\u00a0first\u00a0Communion 13 years\u00a0ago,\u00a0but it\u00a0was in 2025 that he felt the call to\u00a0go \u201cfull in\u201d on\u00a0Catholicism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that\u00a0the Church\u00a0is the gift that Jesus left for us 2,000 years ago.\u00a0This\u00a0is\u00a0basically a\u00a0hospital for our souls,\u00a0and\u00a0that resonates with me so much,\u201d he\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s\u00a0a beauty\u00a0to it that I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0get out of anything else in my\u00a0life.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perez\u00a0said\u00a0the traditions of the Church, especially seeing\u00a0them\u00a0in the funeral rites for his\u00a0grandmother,\u00a0helped him\u00a0re-embrace the faith.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTradition shapes everything,\u201d\u00a0he added. \u201cThere\u00a0are\u00a0all historical reasons that\u00a0shape the traditions we have today,\u00a0and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0beautiful.\u201d\u00a0Perez\u00a0also\u00a0noted his\u00a0hope to\u00a0join the Knights of Columbus\u00a0and get more involved with other young\u00a0people at\u00a0his parish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sister\u00a0Pat Evanick\u00a0is the moderator of the OCIA for\u00a0St. John\u2019s\u00a0students. In a break while preparing the\u00a0Candidates for the Mass, she remarked\u00a0how\u00a0they\u00a0inspired\u00a0her.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think\u00a0their\u00a0dedication\u00a0is\u00a0always\u00a0inspiring to\u00a0me,\u201d Sister Pat said. \u201cListening to their stories of faith\u00a0\u2014\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0always the biggest blessing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: A Flippin\u2019 Success: Diocese of Brooklyn Sees Rise in People Joining the Faith<\/a><\/p>\n

After receiving\u00a0Communion, Contreras was among several students\u00a0who were\u00a0visibly emotional.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEver since the beginning of my studies, the one thing that stood out was the Eucharist. And every\u00a0Mass\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0ever attended,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0been my only desire to be able to\u00a0participate\u00a0at the\u00a0Lord\u2019s table,\u201d he said. \u201cThen they got to\u00a0Communion,\u00a0and it just all hit me knowing,\u00a0not that\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0worthy,\u00a0but that\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0able finally\u00a0(to receive).\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 13 students who received confirmation were Valery Alvarez, John\u00a0Eikamp,\u202f Kimberly Luna,\u00a0Dinabel\u00a0Lhersion, Ivana\u00a0Martinez,\u00a0Mariajose Moreno-Mahecha, Richard Perez, Haley Vasquez, Lucas Ashby, Roman Belizaire, Shanell Duran,\u00a0Jomarson\u00a0Milien, and Isaac Contreras.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to Contreras,\u00a0Ashby, Belizaire, Duran,\u00a0and Milien\u00a0also\u00a0received\u00a0Communion.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When\u00a0Mass\u00a0ended, Cesar Vasquez, who with his family attends Our Lady of Perpetual Help\u00a0Church\u00a0in\u00a0South\u00a0Ozone Park, was beaming\u00a0with pride\u00a0for his\u00a0daughter Haley, an 18-year-old\u00a0freshman,\u00a0who\u00a0had just been\u00a0confirmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe took the initiative on her own to do this,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cShe really wanted to do it and complete all her sacraments.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0proud to see that\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0turning out to be a well-rounded individual, both intellectually and spiritually.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Cisneros baptizes St. John\u2019s University OCIA student Isaac Contreras during the school\u2019s Mass for Catechumens on April 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Cisneros prays over the St. John\u2019s University OCIA students before administering the sacred rite of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-195608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}