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Priest from Cuba shares story of his call to Priesthood, mission
Father Rolando Montes believes growing up in the island nation of Cuba has helped make him a better Catholic.
-Catholic Missourian
“It taught me something that I still try to live: Do not be afraid of the cross! The cross is meant to be part of the Christian life,” he told a gathering of parishioners at Our Lady of Lourdes in Columbia Oct. 3.
“Be afraid of the sin,” he continued. “Be afraid of betraying the Lord, not of the cross. The cross is a blessing.”
The priest, who goes by Fr. Rolo, is spending a semester at the University of Missouri while working on a degree in institutional communication from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.
He drew laughs, gasps and wide-eyed stares while talking about his road to the Priesthood and some of the abundant opportunities for leading people in his beloved homeland to Christ.
Located about 90 miles off the coast of Florida, Cuba is a traditionally Catholic country. It was colonized by Spain in the 1500s and gained its independence in 1898.