On April 25, El Salvador and the Province of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Redemptorist province of Central America and the Caribbean, experienced a moment of great joy with the priestly ordination of Deacon Fermín Guevara, C.Ss.R. and the diaconate ordination of Óscar Vargas C.Ss.R. conferred by the laying on of hands of Monsignor José Luis Escobar Alas, Archbishop of San Salvador, in the Parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help of San Salvador.
Among those present were the Provincial Superior, Fr. Raphael Thierry, CSsR, the provincial of the Bolivia-Peru Province, Fr. Boris Calzadilla CSsR and many other Redemptorist priests, as well as family members and faithful from the different places where the young Redemptorist religious have worked.
During his homily, Archbishop Escobar Alas emphasized that ordination is a gift, and no one is worthy. But the Lord has chosen us for this mission. Citing the first reading, the prophet Isaiah recounts his own calling, and this also applies to those chosen for the priesthood—those who are chosen, selected to be consecrated and faithful to the Lord. This signifies a lifelong commitment, but first comes the call, the gift of the call.
Then the archbishop asked everyone: What is faith? and said: Faith in Christ consists of two things:
- The gift of God, because God is so good that he has given us his son, so faith is welcoming his son, Christ, because Christ gives himself to us and it depends on us to welcome him.
- The second thing is to give ourselves to the Lord, that is, to consecrate our lives to God, to be in the hands of Christ. This is for everyone, but especially for priests. They must be conformed to Christ in order to care for the people of God. The pastor must be another Christ, because he represents Christ.
He also added toward the end of his homily: “I wish to express my gratitude to the Redemptorists. For the great mission they have carried out in this country and throughout Central America, and continue to carry out, continuing their missionary work all over the world. In our country, people remember them fondly because when they went on missions, they left the Mission Cross in each town. And those crosses are still there… We are remembering something from the middle of the last century. We are witnesses to the work, the effort, and the selflessness of the Redemptorist missionaries. I take advantage of the presence of the Redemptorist superiors here today to thank them.”
Here is a brief summary of the candidates’ vocations:
Óscar Mauricio Vargas Olivares C.Ss.R.
was born in San Miguel, El Salvador, on June 6, 1988. He completed his primary education at the Cantón San Carlos school and his secondary education at the Joaquín Ernesto Cárdenas National Institute.
He entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer as an aspirant on February 7, 2016, in Trojes, Honduras, at the Gaspar Stangasinger formation house. In 2017, he entered the postulancy of San Clemente in San José, Costa Rica.
In 2020, he completed his novitiate in Bellavista, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He professed his first vows on January 21, 2021, at the San Gerardo Maria Mayela Parish and the Sanctuary of the Holy Christ of the Agony in Alajuela, Costa Rica. In 2023, he completed his pastoral year in Cuba. He prepared for his perpetual vows in Cotué, Dominican Republic. On February 14, he made his perpetual vows at the Immaculate Conception Parish in Cotui, Dominican Republic.
Deacon Fermín Benedicto Guevara Chicas C.Ss.R.
was born in Morazán, El Salvador, on August 26, 1987. In 2015, he entered the San Clemente House in San José, Costa Rica, as an aspirant. There, he prepared and studied philosophy at the Our Lady of the Angels National Seminary. In 2018, he completed his novitiate in Bucaramanga, Colombia. He professed his religious vows on January 23, 2019, at St. Gerard Majella Parish in Panama. He studied theology at the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA). He completed his pastoral year in 2022 at the Holy Cross Parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Help of Chacarita, Costa Rica. He prepared for his perpetual vows in Goiânia, Brazil, and professed them on March 10, 2025, in the Dominican Republic. On June 14, 2025, he received diaconal ordination in Havana, Cuba.
Within our Redemptorist family, in the chapel of the San Alfonso juniorate in San Salvador, while praying Lauds this morning, brothers Óscar and Fermín made the profession of faith and oath of Fidelity, prior to their diaconal and priestly ordination.
Source: Facebook pages of the Perpetual Help Parish of San Salvador:
https://www.facebook.com/perpetuosocorro.sansalvador
and San Cristobal Parish, Guatemala City:
