The Archdiocese of Los Angeles on Saturday, May 31, ordained eight new priests from across California, including a 56-year-old former finance consultant from Diamond Bar and a 40-year-old Vietnam native who once promised God that if his dying mother lived he would become a priest.

The ceremony was the first local ordination in the era of Pope Leo XIV, who was elected to the papacy on May 8, succeeding Pope Francis to become history’s first American pontiff.

“These are men who are in love with Christ and His Church – they come with hearts that desire to bring the Love of Christ to the world and serve with humility as Christ did,” said Rev. Peter Saucedo, the Archdiocese’s director of the Office for Vocations that hosts the ceremony, in a statement ahead of Saturday’s ordination ceremony at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

All had worked as deacons in local parishes in the journey to their ordination, and all will fan out to L.A.-area churches to minister, from Long Beach to La Canada Flintridge. According to the archdiocese, the eight men completed at least five years of theological formation at Camarillo’s St. John’s Seminary as well as four years at Queen of Angels Center, in addition to serving as transitional deacons and interns at various parishes.

At 56, Rev. Joseph Cruz came to the priesthood later in life, but eager to spend his retirement as a priest.

“The priesthood was never an equation that I thought about,” he told he told LACatholics.org

But while in high school, he was exposed to the brotherhood of priesthood as the head sacristan St. Denis Catholic Church in Diamond Bar, setting up the altar and making sure the priests’ vestments were ready.

“It was seeing the brotherhood and I think that’s what got me thinking about the vocation,” he said.

At the time, it was just a glimmer of a thought. But he’d go on to a career in finance and management consulting, with an eye toward becoming a deacon after he retired.

Then one day, after just breaking up with his girlfriend, a lunch with a friend led to a conversation about the priesthood.

“If you’re going to be single at the time of your ordination, youl’l have to take a vow of celibacy as a deacon, so you might has well think about becoming a priest,” he told LACatholics.org.

And on Saturday, it became real. His first parish assignment will be St. Mel Church, in La Canada Flintridge. And his first Mass was scheduled to be back where it all started: At 5:30 p.m. on Saturday at St. Denis Catholic Church.

The Ordination Mass, celebrated by Archbishop José H. Gomez, featured the ancient rite of the Sacrament that featured such rituals as prostration — during which the priests lay face down in front of the altar as a symbol of their devotion to God and the church. Each also received his investiture —  the garment they will wear when they celebrate Mass — and were anointed with chrism oil.

The archdiocese provided this information about the new priests:

Rev. Allan Carodan, 49, Manila, Philippines

• Home parish: St. Madeleine Church, Pomona
• Parish assignment: Beatitudes of Our Lord Church, La Mirada
• Frist Mass: June 1, 11 a.m., St. Madeleine

Rev. Paul Francis Collins, 32, Santa Paula

• Home parish: St. Sebastian, Santa Paula
• First parish assignment: St. Mary of the Assumption Church, Whittier
• First Mass: Sunday, June 8, 10:30 a.m., St. Mary of the Assumption

Rev. Michael Paul Croghan, 43, Santa Cruz

• Home parish: Church of the Good Shepherd, Beverly Hills
• First parish assignment: St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Church, Lomita
• First Mass: Sunday, June 1, noon, Church of the Good Shepherd

Rev. Joseph Cruz, 56, Diamond Bar

• Home parish: St. Bede the Venerable, La Cañada Flintridge
• First parish assignment: St. Mel Church, La Cañada Flintridge
• First Mass: Saturday, May 31, 5:30 p.m., St. Denis Catholic Church, Diamond Bar

Rev. Johndy Gonzales, 29, Manila, Philippines

• Home parish: Beatitudes of Our Lord Church, La Mirada
• First parish assignment: St. Dorothy Church, Glendora
• First Mass: Sunday, June 1, noon, Beatitudes of Our Lord

Rev. Jorge Oscar Moncada Hernandez, 28, Mexico City

• Home parish: St. Cornelius, Long Beach
• First parish assignment: Resurrection Church, Long Beach
• First Mass: Sunday, June 1 at 5 p.m., St. Cornelius

Rev. Christian Morquecho, 31, Winnetka

• Home parish: St. Joseph the Worker Church, Winnetka
• Parish assignment: Incarnation Church, Glendale
• First Mass: Saturday, May 31, 5:30 p.m., St. Joseph the Worker

Rev. Quoc Hong Thien Vo, 40, Vietnam

• Home parish: Our Lady of Loretto Church, Los Angeles
• Parish assignment: St. Joseph the Worker Church, Winnetka
• First Mass: Saturday, May 31, 5:30 p.m. – Our Lady of Loretto