Rev. Mr. Carlos Castilla has an appreciation for the age-old adage: “Man proposes and God laughs.”

While Rev. Mr. Castilla admitted that he dreams about where the roads of his priestly journey might lead him and the ministries in which he would like to become involved, he quickly remembers that the path he follows is not up to him – it’s up to God.

“This is a vocation,” said Rev. Mr. Castilla, who was born April 15, 1974, in Colombia. “This is clearly a call from God and I am answering that call. I will do whatever God asks me to do. We can make some plans, but in the end God has the last word.”

“I thank the Holy Spirit for giving me the grace to say yes to the Lord,” he said.

Rev. Mr. Castilla credits his parents, Luis and Carmen Castilla, for raising him and his six siblings – Cesar, 52, Orlando, 50, Edwin, 48, Angelica, 46, Carmen, 42 and Sara, 37 – in a very faith-filled home and acknowledged that his upbringing laid the foundation for his vocation. He shares a story from his childhood about how his vocation was inspired through making frequent visits to the church that was located in the small Colombian town where he was born and praying to the Blessed Mother. Though he believes that the seed for a priestly vocation had been planted in him at an early age, Rev. Mr. Castilla continued to pray as he got older.

“Now that I’m close to ordination, you have no idea how close the Blessed Mother is in my mind,” said Rev. Mr. Castilla, as he reflects on his June 9 ordination by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M. “After my ordination, I want to go to the church in Colombia and thank the Blessed Mother for my calling.”

Rev. Mr. Castilla graduated from San Juan Bosco, Elementary School, San Pedro, and San Fernando High School, Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia. He began his preparation for the priesthood in Colombia where he studied philosophy in the Missionary Seminary of the Holy Spirit from 1999-2001, and entered the seminary there in 2003 where he studied theology for two years.

When asked about how he came to study for the priesthood in the United States, Rev. Mr. Castilla smiles and once again says that “it was part of God’s plan,” proceeding to share another story about attending an international congress for priests where he came to know a priest who was from New York. The priest, who was well aware that Colombia had a large number of seminarians, asked young Carlos to think about relocating to the United States. The priest emphasized that there was not only a critical, overall shortage in vocations in the United States, but also very few Spanish-speaking priests were available to minister to ever-increasing Latino communities.

“When I arrived in the United States, I thought I would be in a Hispanic parish,” the Rev. Mr. Castilla said. Instead, he was accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Trenton, but needed to study English before he could enroll in Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University, South Orange, to earn a master of divinity degree.

Rev. Mr. Castilla is grateful to have been assigned to three parishes in the diocese during his seminary years – Holy Eucharist, Tabernacle; Holy Innocents, Neptune, and as a transitional deacon in St. Vincent de Paul, Yardville. He not only appreciates the support he’s received from the pastors and parishioners, but for the opportunity to hone his English-speaking skills.

“They’ve been counting the days until I’m ordained” a priest, said a joyful Rev. Mr. Castilla, as he acknowledged the community in St. Vincent De Paul Parish. “They have given me support the whole time.”

Among the host of people Rev. Mr. Castilla thanked for their constant encouragement of his vocation were Father Stanley Krzyston, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, who will be his vesting priest at ordination; Bishop Emeritus John M. Smith, and Father Javier Diaz, pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Trenton.

Rev. Mr. Castilla said he feels privileged to have St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, as his first parish assignment as a newly ordained priest.

“That announcement,” he said, “came as a big surprise.”