Journey to ordination: Carlos Ardila

By Tanya Connor
 The Catholic Free Press

God, the Church and the sacraments.
These are central to the vocation of Deacon Carlos Francisco Ardila Navia, who is scheduled to be ordained a priest this month.
Before the journey to the priesthood is the journey to the Lord, he said.
“I’m Colombian; most of us are Catholic,” he said. Growing up, he learned about God and the faith, but later he experienced the Father, Son and Holy Spirit more profoundly.
“I’ve always had a beautiful, sometimes challenging, relationship with God,” Deacon Ardila said. “But I never thought of becoming a priest until I was in my 20s.”
He was born on July 1, 1983, in Bogotá, Colombia, the son of Carlos Ardila Plata, now deceased, and Lucila Navia Rinck. His father lived in the United States for many years, and, as a teenager, Deacon Ardila came here to live with him, and attended and graduated from Hackensack High School in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Deacon Ardila later returned to Colombia and studied filmmaking at Politécnico Grancolombiano in Bogotá. Though he didn’t get a degree in it, he worked in television production as a script supervisor and floor manager with different companies.
“I started feeling like I wanted to do something more meaningful with my life,” he said. “I think that marriage is a beautiful vocation … and it’s very important for the Church, but I didn’t really feel called to it.”
He was drawn to God, though.
“Understanding that paternal side of God” led him to the unconditional love of God, his Father, he said. He fell in love with Christ, experienced the Holy Spirit and discovered the Trinity.
“I had all that conversion within the Church,” Deacon Ardila said. “I don’t think that would’ve been possible without the Church.… Christ and the Church are the greatest gift of God to humankind.” And the Church’s mission is to evangelize, he said; “this gift that God has given us is for everyone.”
In the Church, Deacon Ardila “discovered” the sacraments.
“The sacraments have been the means through which Christ has made himself present in my life,” he said. “The sacrament of reconciliation has been one of the things that the Lord has used to change my life. Also, the Eucharist.” 
He saw the sacrament of Holy Orders at work in the Church.
“I started to experience the Church not only as an institution but as the body of Christ,” he said. “Christ is the head and we are the members of the body of Christ.… He’s the one who sanctifies his Church … who’s in the midst of his people, leading the Church.… I found the beauty of the presence of Christ in the life of the people through the ministry of priests.… I said, ‘I want to do that.’”
He talked about this with his mother, who sent him to her spiritual director, a member of the Order of Saint Augustine. The spiritual director took him to their vocations office.
For eight years, Deacon Ardila was in formation with the Augustinians. From 2009-2018, he studied philosophy and theology at Fundación Universitaria Unicervantes in Bogotá, he said.
“My plan was to be ordained to the priesthood within the community,” he said. They helped him a lot, and he’s still friends with them. But, he said, they are more involved in education, and he eventually sensed that God was calling him to parish ministry.
“I fell in love with the Church,” he said. “I felt like I wanted to be at a more local level. What diocesan priests do is bring the universal Church to a local level.… You have daily contact with people; you become part of their lives, and they become part of yours.… And here I am.”
He found out about the Worcester Diocese through other Colombians who’d come here to be priests. His initial contacts were Father Daniel E. Moreno, now pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Dudley, and Father Victor Sierra, now administrator of Good Shepherd Parish in Linwood and St. Augustine Parish in Millville.
In August 2018, at the invitation of Bishop McManus and with the help of Father James S. Mazzone, then director of the diocese’s Office for Vocations, Deacon Ardila came to Worcester. He studied English at Clark University before going to St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore in January 2019. In May 2020, he earned a bachelor’s in theology there. He recently finished the program of priestly formation, and on May 6 was to receive an S.T.B. (baccalaureate in sacred theology) and a master’s degree in theology from St. Mary’s.
His parish assignments were at St. Paul Cathedral in Worcester; St. Anne in Southborough and St. Anthony in Dudley.
When you ask Deacon Ardila who his favorite saint is, he names not one, but several. For his ordination as a transitional deacon last year he submitted about 15 names for the Litany of Saints – and was asked to pare down the list. He got the message, and this year submitted only four!  Among his favorites are St. Augustine, St. Monica, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Pio of Pietrelcina.
Bishop McManus is to ordain him to the priesthood, along with Deacon Jose F. Carvajal, at a 10 a.m. Mass on May 15 at St. Paul’s.
Deacon Ardila said arrangements are being made for his brother, Ivan Rivera Navia, to come from Colombia for his ordination, but his mother and sisters can’t come.
His first Masses are at 4 p.m. May 15 at St. Anthony’s in Dudley, for which attendees must register, by calling the parish, and at 10 a.m. in English and noon in Spanish May 16 at St. Paul Cathedral, for which registration is not required.

Five ordination liturgies for the Diocese of Worcester are scheduled
in St. Paul Cathedral.
COVID restrictions limit in-person attendance but anyone
can watch via Livestream at
worcesterdiocese.org.
Those in Worcester can view live on cable WCCA, Spectrum Ch 194.


May 15 at 10 a.m.
Ordination to the priesthood
• Deacon Carlos F. Ardila
• Deacon Jose F. Carvajal

May 29 at 10 a.m.
Ordination to the transitional    
diaconate
• James Boulette
• Thiago Ibiapina
• Derek Mobilio

May 29 at 2 p.m.
Ordination to the transitional diaconate
• Cleber de Paula
• Julio Granados
• Juan Parra

June 5 at 10 a.m.
Ordination to the permanent diaconate
• Scott Camilleri
• John Ladroga
• Donald Pegg

June 19 at 10 a.m.
Ordination to the priesthood
• Deacon Lucas M. LaRoche
• Deacon John L. Larochelle