Rev. Mr. Andrés Alberto Serna is more than ready to take on the priesthood.

“For me, the priesthood is about responding to the challenge of being of service to the Church, to a community and to humanity,” said Rev. Mr. Serna, who was born Feb. 2, 1982, in Medellin, Colombia, to Alberto Antonio Serna Bolivar and Gloria Elena Ocampo Ramriez. He also has a sister, Maria Isabel Serna Ocampo.

“Even though it’s a challenge, I feel that God is with me and with God by my side, I know that I will make it.”

As he anticipates his priestly ordination day on June 9, Rev. Mr. Serna fondly recalled the combination of people and experiences that inspired his decision to become a priest. He said he was about 10 years old when Father Jose Gabriel Seguro, the pastor of his home parish in rural Urrao, Antioquia, encouraged the young Andres to join the Holy Childhood Association, a program that is sponsored by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith to educate and promote mission awareness among children.

Through his participation in the HCA, Rev. Mr. Serna said that even at his tender age, he would become emotionally moved to hear stories about the missions and how there were “kids around the world who did not yet know the face of Jesus Christ.”

Rev. Mr. Serna said he had considered teaching as a possible career choice, but the thoughts of the priesthood had always prevailed, including during his early school years at Eduardo Uribe Botero School, Urrao, Antioquia, Colombia, followed by his attendance in Normal Sagrada Familia High School, Urrao, and Nueva Granja Taller High School, Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia. He began his religious studies at the Diocesan Seminary of Girardota, Colombia, in 2003, before moving on to the Pontificia Bolivariana University, Colombia, where he earned a philosophy degree in 2006.

While Rev. Mr. Serna had intended to continue his priestly formation in Colombia, he had a change of heart when a fellow seminarian put him into contact with Father Javier Diaz, who was a native Colombian priest serving in the Trenton Diocese. It was Father Diaz who urged Rev. Mr. Serna to think about serving as a priest in the Trenton Diocese.

As difficult as it was “and still is” for him to be away from his family and community, Rev. Mr. Serna, in 2007, packed up and made the 2,000-mile move to New Jersey.

“It was tough to leave Colombia, but over the years, I thank God that I have made friends who have become like family to me,” said Rev. Mr. Serna, who received a bachelor of arts degree in theology in 2008 from St. Andrew College Seminary, located on the campus of Seton Hall University, South Orange. He then went on to St. Mary Seminary and University, Baltimore, Md., where he spent four years pursuing a master of divinity degree and baccalaureate in sacred theology degree.

While in the seminary, Rev. Mr. Serna appreciated having parish assignments during summer breaks and throughout the academic year. In the Baltimore area, he ministered in St. Margaret, St. Louis and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parishes and Bon Secours Hospital. In the Trenton Diocese, he served in St. Barnabas Parish, Bayville; St. Martha Parish, Point Pleasant, which he has since “adopted” as his “home parish,” and his transitional diaconate year assignment in St. Theresa Parish, Little Egg Harbor.

Of St. Theresa Parish, Rev. Mr. Serna found it to be a “nice and kind community” with clergy and parishioners who were supportive and “they helped me to learn English.” He also enjoyed preaching the homily at Mass and working with Father Mick Lambeth, pastor, who was “my first vocation director when I came to the diocese.”

With priestly ordination just a few days away, Rev. Mr. Serna reflected on the qualities necessary for a man to be a good priest.

At the top of the list, he said, “a priest needs to be a man of prayer.” “Prayer is very important because he needs to be in a continuing relationship with the Lord. He also has to be open to working with people in different ministries and who are of different personalities. He has to be able to reflect his happiness to others that comes from his own relationship with the Lord,” he said.

Once ordained, the new Father Serna will begin an assignment as parochial vicar in St. Mary of the Lake Parish, Lakewood, where he looks forward to “learning a lot and committing myself” to working in collaboration with his good friend, Father Michael Sullivan, who will be Rev. Mr. Serna’s vesting priest at ordination. Father Sullivan, who is currently pastor of St. Martha Parish, has been appointed pastor of St. Mary of the Lake Parish effective July 1.