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FORT SMITH — Charles “Rick” Hobbs III, who was ordained as a transitional deacon by Bishop Anthony B. Taylor May 29 at St. Boniface Church, first felt the call to the priesthood as a 12-year-old in the mid-1970s.

In his high school years he entertained ambitions of playing in the National Football League, but soon realized that he was built for endurance, not sprints.

As an adult, Hobbs took up marathon running, learning along the way that everything worthwhile requires patience, practice and persistence. He had begun a seminary program twice, earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at St. Joseph Seminary in 1987 and a master’s degree in theology at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans in 1996, but God’s schedule was different from his. After 13 years in the business world, Hobbs, 50, returned to Fort Smith, still feeling God’s call but uncertain whether the time to answer had passed him by.

Father Jon McDougal, Hobbs’ pastor, encouraged him to go the distance. “He said, ‘Just kick the can and we’ll go about it.’ Father Jon has been a great support to me spiritually, a true blessing in my life,” Hobbs said.

After being accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Little Rock in 2011, Hobbs entered Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corner, Wis., the largest seminary in the country for older men, where 100 seminarians with an average age of 43 are enrolled. Last year he spent a pastoral year working at St. Raphael Church in Springdale and will return to Sacred Heart in August to complete his degree. He will be ordained a priest May 31.

His parents, Frances and Richard Hobbs Jr., never doubted he would be ordained but were surprised it has taken so long.

“It’s been going on like this for 30 years,” his father said, “but I knew the good Lord would take him because he was such a good boy. When he’s home he gets up early every morning, puts out my water, brings in the newspaper and gets me my shoes. He’ll do anything and everything for us.”

Hobbs’ interest in serving the elderly helped him to discern his vocation. While living in North Carolina, he volunteered at a nursing home operated by the Poor Servants of the Mother of God, spending many hours working with residents, serving at Mass, distributing Communion and getting to know the sisters and priests of the Diocese of Charlotte.

The bilingual ordination Mass was concelebrated by Bishop Taylor, Father Thomas L. Knoebel, vice rector of Sacred Heart School of Theology, and diocesan and religious priests of the diocese. An honor guard composed of Knights of Columbus from Fort Smith and Springdale led the procession. Diocesan deacons and Hobbs’ fellow seminarians were in attendance. During the ordination ceremony, Hobbs prostrated himself before the altar as the congregation and choir sang the “Litany of the Saints.” Bishop Taylor laid hands on Hobbs, reciting the prayer of ordination, and Father McDougal invested him with the liturgical vestments of a deacon — the stole and dalmatic. At the conclusion of the ordination, Bishop Taylor presented Hobbs with the Book of Gospels, exhorting him to “believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.”

“Your path to the diaconate — and soon the priesthood — has been arduous, with twists and turns and adversities that would have caused a lesser man simply to give up …” Bishop Taylor said. “As a minister of Jesus Christ who came among his disciples as one who serves: do the will of God from your heart! Serve the people in love and joy as you would the Lord!”

At the reception following Mass, Father McDougal said, “It’s a beautiful day for our parish, a blessing.”

“You’re never too young or too old for God to be working on you,” Hobbs said. “I’m 50. I run marathons … I love the elderly and young people and just people that need help on the streets. I hope to be what people call me to be.”

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Juan Guido couldn’t hold back the tears as he embraced Bishop Anthony B. Taylor and his family during his diaconate ordination May 18 at St. Edward Church in Little Rock.

His relationship with the bishop, parents and siblings flooded his mind as he was ordained a transitional deacon and prepared for his final year of seminary studies.

“Especially with my family, all the struggles we went through, all the events we had to go through, especially being the oldest. Especially when I hugged my brother and sisters, it reminded me that I want to be an example to them … When the deacons came to hug me, it really brought me to tears.”

“For me that is very important to be with those people who walked with me, walked behind me. Especially with the bishop. I think we have a good relationship. When everything was done, I was not able to hold it in when he hugged me.”

During the Mass, Guido made promises of celibacy, a life of prayer and respect and obedience to the bishop. To show the importance to all priests being bilingual, seminarian Mario Jacobo read the first reading in English and seminarian Michael Johns read the second reading in Spanish. Guido was installed with the deacon’s stole and dalmatic by his parish’s deacons, Dan Hennessey and Marcelino Luna.

It was the first time in 129 years that an ordination was held at the parish.

“Pope Francis, from the very beginning of his papacy has given eloquent witness to this truth,” Bishop Taylor said in his homily. “Jesus calls us to live lives of humble service and courageous self-sacrificing love, with special concern for the poorest and weakest and most troubled among us. If you are seeking ordination as a way to become important, esteemed and influential you’re in the wrong business. The approval of others may well come if you are a faithful deacon (and eventually priest), but if that’s your motive, you’re in for a rude awakening. It takes courage to live a life of sacrificial love, but that’s the only way that you will be able to be a faithful shepherd of the flock that your Master, the Good Shepherd, entrusts to your care.” 

Sitting on the front row were his parents, Maria Guadalupe and Pablo, two sisters, one brother, grandparents, an uncle and four cousins. 

Guido moved to the United States from Iramuco, Guanajuato, Mexico, in 2001 when he was 15 years old. The family joined St. Edward Church in Little Rock and he attended Hall High School in Little Rock.

He knew no English when he arrived.

“Zero. Not even hello,” he said with a laugh.

“The whole world just changed. You were not able to communicate, the school was different, the food was different. It was a very dramatic change for me.”

He received comfort by attending Mass in Spanish at St. Edward.

“At the church with Father John Antony I felt at home,” he said. “It was a place where I knew I would fit in.”

Following graduation in 2005, he was accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Little Rock. He studied at St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington, La., for his bachelor’s degree. This summer he is working at Christ the King Church in Little Rock and will finish his final year of studies at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana. He will be ordained a priest May 31 in Little Rock.

Guido (pronounced GE-dough), 26, has already earned a reputation among the seminarians and priests for his love of the liturgy. He has been master of ceremonies at several Masses, earning the nickname “The Finger” or “El Dedo” in Spanish.

“I always call them with my finger to come over here and go over here,” he said. “I have great passion for the liturgy. I love to be involved in preparing for the Eucharist.”

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TEXARKANA — Robert Cigainero’s vocational journey began at an early intersection of faith and community, but exactly when appears to be something of a local controversy.

Moments after witnessing her youngest child’s ordination to the diaconate, Robert’s mother Jackie relayed a story from his second-grade year.

“It was around the time of his First Communion,” Jackie recalled. “His Sunday school teacher, Carolyn Elliot, told me that she saw something in him and said he would be a priest one day.”

This came as some surprise to Robert, who had never heard the second-grade story and didn’t tell his mother or father, Mike Cigainero, that he had decided to follow a vocation until his eighth-grade year. However, the thought of others taking note of his spiritual potential didn’t surprise him — when you grow up in his Texarkana parish, the term “faith family” takes on a whole new meaning.

“St. Edward isn’t like a lot of parishes,” he said. “Many of the families who are there today are the same families who founded the church and the Cigainero family is one of them. I received all the sacraments here and a lot of the people at my ordination were there at my baptism. We’re very supportive of one another.”

Predictably, Cigainero’s diaconate ordination Mass was packed May 25. Joining his parish and birth families were a large number of seminarians, deacons and priests filling the first few pews. Their presence greatly enhanced the event, Cigainero said.

“I’ve been praying with these guys for years already and we have had so many conversations, where we allow ourselves to be completely vulnerable,” he said. “People have no idea the bond that guys form in the seminary.”

In his homily, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor’s remarks built on the faith family theme, stressing to Cigainero the daily mission of loving others as his own.

“Robert, you stand before us today eager to commit yourself to a life of sacrificial love,” Bishop Taylor said. “By promising celibacy, you sacrifice many good things … But for many of us the bigger sacrifice is the promise of obedience, which involves the sacrifice of our will and involves much more than just going where I assign you. Obedience has to do with what goes on inside your heart.

“It flows from your gift of self to the Lord, so the obedience which you promise today is that of a listening, loving heart … (We) gather today to formalize your response to the call of Jesus and his Church, committing yourself to a life of sacrificial love — loving others as Jesus has loved you. Sacrificially, completely, to the death.”

The significance of the moment broke through during the Litany of Supplication. Visibly emotional as he arose from a prostrate position before the altar, Cigainero wept as the bishop laid his hands on him and then helped him to his feet — a physical gesture profoundly symbolic of the unwavering support Cigainero received from so many to get to this day.

“How best to explain it?” Cigainero said. “It just finally hit me when I was prostrate that after the Lord had been calling me for such a long time, it was finally here. I was laying down my life for the Lord and his Church. I was humbled; it was very powerful.”

The 27-year-old Cigainero will spend the summer at Immaculate Conception Church in North Little Rock before returning to St. Meinrad Seminary for his final year of studies. He is scheduled to be ordained a priest May 31.