Shepherd's Slant: September 09, 2025

By Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

It was a joyous moment last Saturday when Charles "Carlos" Nagore was ordained as a transitional deacon at St. Augustine Cathedral. The excitement at the liturgy was palpable. Carlos, over his years in seminary, has endeared himself to the community throughout the Diocese of Tucson. St. Augustine Cathedral was filled with his family and friends. He gives us hope for a new generation of priests to serve our Diocese.

Many of his classmates from St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo attended the ordination showing their regard and support to Carlos. We were delighted Rev. Leon Hutton, Rector at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo and Rev. John Vianney Lee OSB from Mt. Angel, Carlos’ original formation director, joined us for the ordination.

Carlos’ parents, Luis and Patricia, as well as his siblings, Vincent and Sofia, and many from Our Lady of Fatima, St. Andrew in Sierra Vista, St. Joseph in Tucson and Sacred Heart in Nogales, where Carlos grew up or served, shared in the joy of the celebration.

Now he will return to the seminary to complete his studies and will then return to the Diocese to be assigned as a deacon to a parish where he will remain after being ordained a priest. This is part of the new Program of Priestly Formation which guides the seminary program for candidates to the priesthood. That program now requires a propaedeutic year before one begins seminary at the college or theologate level. During that year, kind of like a religious novitiate, the candidate is steeped in spirituality and the discernment of a vocation. From that the student enters discipleship formerly philosophy or pre-theology and then configuration first years of theology ending with synthesis in the final year of preparation.

Our Sexual Review Board met yesterday to review concerns that have arisen since our last meeting. Most of the concerns relate to happenings in our schools either between students or parents and students. Young children are being exposed through media to adult content and need assistance and guidance to navigate the challenges of growing up. It is also clear how important it is to help parents in the challenges of raising children in today’s culture. I am grateful to retired Tucson Police captain John Leavitt and the board for their wise counsel and advice on complex and troubling situations.

I am pleased to announce the appointment of a new Chancellor, Anna Gallardo, who will work with our Interim Chancellor, Mr. Ernie Nedder, for a while, as she gets acquainted with her new position. Anna has a great deal of management experience working with the Federal Government and law enforcement. She served as Special Agent in Charge with the U.S. Office of Professional Responsibility, prior to that as Special Agent for the Department of Homeland Security.

She has a great love of the Church and has completed her Certificate 1 formation with Jordan Ministry. She is a member of the CTSO Board and a member of St. Joseph Parish in Tucson. She is a member of the Catholic Daughters who help our Diocese in so many ways. Her husband Al Gallardo is a deacon at St. Joe’s.

She will begin on September 15, 2025 and work with Ernie for a period of time as well as consult with our Judicial Vicar, Rev. Lester Mendonsa on canonical matters.

Today through Thursday, September 11, I will be in Baltimore to attend a Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Foundation Board meeting. These have been troubling and difficult days for CRS with the severe cuts the Administration has made to USAID funds used to help in desperate situations around the world. CRS has had to let go a large number of staff and critically curtail their life-saving programs in over 100 countries. The reduction in funds has meant starving adults and children will experience even more famine and starvation in countries like Gaza and Sudan. People will be deprived of life saving drugs. One can only estimate the number of people who will die because of these cutbacks. It breaks one’s heart.

I invite our parishes to take up a collection in their parishes on the weekend of October 20th and 21st for CRS to be used in addressing the desperate situation in Gaza and Sudan. CRS has staff on the ground in both countries and with these private funds will be able to provide some assistance to alleviate desperate situations in both countries.

This Friday the Catholic Foundation will host its annual Cornerstone Gala at La Paloma Resort. This year we are honoring two true angels who grace our Diocese by their ministry, Sr. Lois Paha O.P. and Sr. Charlotte Anne Swift, O.P. They have made countless contributions to our Diocese.

Sr. Lois Paha came to our Diocese as Director of Pastoral Services and for many years directed the Formation Program for deacon and lay ministry candidates. Sr. Lois has served for many years on the Executive Council of the Southwest Liturgical Conference. She has coordinated countless diocesan liturgies and loves to sing and participate in Liturgy both at the Cathedral and throughout the Diocese. Recently she gave a lecture on Vatican II at Our Mother of Sorrows. She is a member of the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher. Prior to coming to Tucson, she was Liturgy Director in Austin, Texas for 16 years. Like most religious, she was originally a teacher, later principal, and served in a parish in Phoenix. She earned a liturgical degree from Notre Dame. 

Sr. Charlotte Anne Swift has been a part of the Diocese for 56 years and worked for the Diocese for 23 years. First as a teacher at Loretto Catholic School in Douglas. She was also a teacher at St. Raphael in Los Angeles during the Watts riots. Then she went to Delano, California where Cesar Chavez started his work. Then to Scottsdale which at that time was part of the Diocese of Tucson. She was a principal at Santa Cruz teaching a generation of young people. She later served as the Director of Project Yes an afterschool program in South Tucson helping families in need working with others in our community to assist children to have a safe environment in which to flourish. Later, Project Yes helped parents to learn to properly discipline their children and helped to support a gang prevention Program. Then she served as my Executive Assistant along with Sonja Gutierrez and assisted with Confirmations, the Boards on which I served, organizing travel and assisting however she could.

I know it will be a delightful evening including a great number of items for bidding as well as several major opportunities for bidding publicly.

Thanks to Elizabeth Bollinger, Executive Director of the Catholic Foundation and the Gala Committee under the able leadership of Donal Drayne who is a master at hosting such events.

On Saturday I will be in Chicago for an 50th anniversary alumni gathering for the Class of 1975 at Quigley Seminary South, the second class I taught at the high school seminary. Quigley was a day school of about 750 boys. I served there from 1970 to 1985 first as a teacher and guidance counselor and later as principal.

These gatherings are delightful and challenging, trying to remember whose who, since most have changed, then when in high school.

After that I will be in Orange County for a meeting of the Catholic Cemeteries Conference. This Conference supports Catholic Cemeteries throughout the United States.

We are blest to have two Catholic Cemeteries in Tucson, Holy Hope and Our Lady of the Desert. Ernie Duarte is the director who works with a very dedicated staff to assist the Church in one of the Corporal Works of Charity: To Bury the Dead. They do a marvelous ministry helping grieving families to lay loved ones to rest. Consider making use of their services.

Please remember in your prayers, Sr. Paulette Shaw, CSA, Sister of St. Agnes, who served in our Diocese for many years at St. Augustine Cathedral. She was a force at the Cathedral and her pastoral leadership did much good. She was trained as a nurse and worked in Quito, Ecuador where she was beloved. She returned to Tucson and served for 28 years at the Cathedral. Great lady, great religious, great example for all of us in her untiring service to others.

As always, I thank you for your support and prayers.

Yours in Christ, 

Most Rev. Gerald Kicanas 

Apostolic Administrator, Diocese of Tucson