5 Men Profess as Salesians

By Fr. Mike Mendl, SDB

(Haverstraw, NY – August 15) – On August 15, Brothers Carlos Cerda Gutierrez, SDB, Lorenzo Carlo D’Alessandro, SDB, Nicholas Kurt Jandernoa, SDB, Christo Ruben Philistin, SDB, and Jieo Aleksander Tecson, SDB, made their first religious profession as Salesians of Don Bosco during a celebration of the Eucharist in the chapel of the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Haverstraw, N.Y.

Fr. Dominic Tran, SDB, provincial, presided at the Mass and received the vows of the five young men. The five had completed a year of novitiate at the Salesian house of formation in Richmond, Calif., under the guidance of Fr. Joseph Thinh Nguyen, master of novices.

Bro. Carlos Cerda, 25, was born in Moroleon, Guanajuato, Mexico, and entered the Salesians from Lockport, Ill.; he was a member of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Joliet. He had been introduced to the Salesians by a Carmelite brother in the parish, who was particularly close to the young people of the parish.

Carlos came to the Salesian formation house in Orange, N.J., in August 2021. His discernment also included a year of prenovitiate formation at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., in 2023-2024.

Bro. Carlos has discerned a calling to be a Salesian coadjutor brother so that he can become “a friendly role model for young people” and witness to the “call given by God to men who seek to dedicate themselves totally to God in community, living out the lay dimension of our Baptism,” particularly through the evangelical counsels.

Now, returning to the house in Orange for postnovitiate formation, Bro. Carlos will pursue a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Seton Hall University, aiming eventually to teach at one of our Salesian schools. He aspires to touch the lives of many young people by listening to them and sharing their joys and challenges; to accompany young people at risk “by providing suitable trade skills”; and eventually to become a formator of men in initial Salesian formation.

Bro. Carlos found the best part of his novitiate year in the time spent in community with his novice classmates, as well as the days designated for silence and prayer.

Bro. Lorenzo D’Alessandro, 27, comes from Vancouver, B.C., where he and his family belonged to St. Jude Parish. His parents are Robert D’Alessandro and Charlotte Carlos. He has a younger brother, Cortez.

Lorenzo came to the Salesians after five years as a diocesan seminarian, during which he earned a B.A. in philosophy. He’d entered the seminary as a high school senior after returning to the practice of his faith, influenced by one of his parish priests, whose “example of holiness rubbed off on me, especially his love for sacred music and love for the liturgy as a whole.” In both high school and college, he found the Benedictine seminary rectors to be “men of great faith and intellect. Both showed me the beauty, ardour, and rigours of both consecrated life and intellectual life.”

Lorenzo found in himself a desire for work with the young and for a consecrated life in community, which he had witnessed with the Benedictines. A friend told him about the Salesians and, he says, “Instead of the adage, ‘There’s an app for that!,’ it was as if God was saying to me, ‘There’s a religious order for that!’”

So Lorenzo applied to the Salesians, was accepted, and began as a candidate in August 2022 at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J. But a visa issue required him to return to Canada in January 2023. He resumed his candidacy at St. Benedict, the Salesian parish in Etobicoke, Ont., continued there as a prenovice in August, and was able to return to Ramsey in January 2024 to complete the prenovitiate program. At the Prep, he was chaplain for some of the sports teams and the soup kitchen, and he also taught CCD at St. John Bosco Parish in Port Chester, N.Y., on a weekly basis.

During his novitiate year in Richmond, Lorenzo found the greatest satisfaction in “being able to assimilate and live out Salesian values on a more concrete level, as well as being able to get to know the students in school, mainly through coaching.” (The novitiate is located on the campus of Salesian High School in Richmond, Calif.)

Following his religious profession, Bro. Lorenzo will join the formation community in Orange, N.J., to continue his formation toward Salesian priesthood. He will take courses in school and sports psychology at Seton Hall University. His discernment focus now shifts from asking, “Am I being called?” to “How am I being called?” He is aware that in this stage of his formation he is preparing spiritually for perpetual profession and intellectually “to implement my studies into daily life personally, ministerially, and communally.” He sees himself ministering as a teacher, coach, and counselor.

Bro. Lorenzo concludes: “Ten years ago, never would I have thought that I would be professing as a clerical brother with the Salesians of Don Bosco. Yet, retrospectively, I can see, at least in part, how God was gradually preparing me for this ‘yes’ to him who consecrates me to himself” through his own mysterious and “genius” plans.

Bro. Nicholas Jandernoa, 26, comes from Pewamo, Mich., where his family are members of St. Joseph’s Parish. He was born in Lansing. His parents are Bruce and Gail Jandernoa, and he has one older brother and three younger sisters.

Nicholas spent two years as a NET Missionary, which helped him to be open to consecrated life: “My experience helped me grow not only spiritually, but also in confidence in myself. Most importantly, I discovered that I had a passion for working with young people and that God has chosen to work through me to show his love to the young.” He already knew about Don Bosco and admired how the saint used sports and magic tricks to grab young people’s attention and then bring them to Jesus. When he learned that Don Bosco had founded a religious order, the Salesians, he saw “that I could serve young people, be involved with sports and games while also being consecrated to God.” This idea was very attractive.

So Nicholas became a Salesian candidate in Orange, N.J., in January 2021 and a prenovice at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., in 2022-2023. He continued prenovitiate in Orange in 2023-2024 and after his religious profession will return to Orange as a postnovice and a seminarian studying philosophy at Seton Hall University. He aspires in these next couple of years “to grow in my love for Jesus, to whom I am consecrated, and to live out the Salesian Constitutions, which I have professed to live.”

Thus far Bro. Nicholas has found his religious vocation "anything but boring"; rather for him it is an "exciting adventure full of love” that he hopes other young people will consider.

Bro. Christo Ruben Philistin, 23, was born in Cap Haitien, Haiti, and is the son of Amos and Lunie Joseph Philistin, who now live in Brockton, Mass. He has an older sister, Hudenie Lourdes Marcia Philistin. An aunt, who is a nun, introduced him to the Salesians in his hometown, where he became a candidate in February 2020. In September 2022 he became a prenovice in the Salesian house in Thorland, Haiti, after which he began a year of novitiate in Mexico, where the Haiti Vice Province sends its men. After his parents moved to the U.S., his provincial facilitated his transfer to the U.S. novitiate so that he could be nearer to them.

Bro. Christo’s nun aunt, he writes, “greatly influenced me through her spiritual way of life. The priest of my parish, as well as the Salesians from the community in my hometown, have also had a significant impact on me, particularly through their sense of family, which has left a deep mark on my journey.”

He adds: “I wanted to become a Salesian to answer a call greater than myself, something deep within my heart urging me to be completely with God and for God voluntarily. Additionally, out of love for being with and serving the young, it has been the perfect match” so that he can “be with God and serve youth in the footsteps of Don Bosco.”

He says that he thoroughly enjoyed his novitiate year—community outings, the novice master’s conferences, and opportunities for ministry. “The best part was the time we spent simply being together as a community, hanging out, sharing laughter, and watching movies.”

Professing as a seminarian Salesian, Bro. Christo will join the formation community at Orange, N.J., and study philosophy at Seton Hall University. He aspires to deepen his relationship with God and engage in apostolic service to the young. In particular, “I would like to be a music teacher because I truly believe that music can lead young people to Jesus. I also feel that I can use my talent to inspire and accompany them on their journey of faith through music.”

Bro. Jieo Aleksander Tecson, 24, is a native of Quezon City, Philippines. His parents are Gaudencio and Maria Cristina Tecson, and he has a twin sister, Anna Kristina, and a younger brother, Jed Angelo. They immigrated to Calgary, Alberta, and became involved in St. Patrick’s and Holy Spirit parishes there.

Jieo’s father had gone to a Salesian school in the Philippines. Jieo, however, discovered the Salesians by reading about Don Bosco in a lives of the saints book and then seeing the movie St. John Bosco: Mission to Love. The movie suggested to him that he might become a priest like Don Bosco, caring compassionately for the young. A homily preached by one of his parish priests, Fr. Cristino Bouvette, led him to think about the priesthood as a radical form of fatherhood, which “scared, challenged, and intrigued me all at once.” Some years later, after his first year at university, he was investigating possibilities for religious life and contacted Fr. Jim Berning, SDB, the vocation director in Canada.

In the Salesians he found four of his personal desires: missions, priesthood, youth work, and religious devotion.

Thus Jieo became a candidate at Orange, N.J., in August 2022 and a prenovice at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., in August 2023. During his prenovitiate year, he taught catechism at St. John Bosco Parish in Port Chester, N.Y.

“The best part of my novitiate year,” says Bro. Jieo, “was the spirit of brotherhood I experienced with my fellow novices, in moments both of praying and of playing.” He also found a lot of satisfaction in ministry to the students at Salesian College Prep, adjacent to the novitiate house.

After professing as a seminarian, he will continue his religious and priestly formation in Orange while studying philosophy at Seton Hall University. There “I hope to deepen my relationship with God, better assimilate the spirit of Don Bosco, and continue cultivating my skills for ministry among the young. With God’s help, I wish to become more and more conformed to Christ, especially in his obedience, poverty, and chastity, and to learn truly what it means to be a sign and bearer of his love for young people.”

Further down the road, Bro. Jieo hopes that he might become a missionary in some foreign land. “Most of my favourite saints were missionaries (the Canadian Martyrs among them!),” he states. But his ultimate aspiration is to become a saint.

The Eucharistic Celebration

Forty priests concelebrated the profession Mass, assisted by Deacon Thomas Junas, SDB. Additionally, in attendance there were ten professed brothers, many family members of the newly professed, numerous Salesian sisters and novices, Sisters of Life, Salesian Cooperators, Salesian Lay Missioners, young people making a Gospel Roads retreat-service program, students from Salesian schools, and other friends. The 470-seat chapel was about two-thirds full.

Introducing the Mass of Our Lady’s Assumption, Fr. Dominic (in three languages) voiced thanks to God for calling us, thanks to our mother Mary, thanks to our brothers for their “yes” to God, and thanks to their parents—who were commended a couple more times during the rites.

Fr. Dominic’s homily focused on God’s initiative. On our own, he said, we’d never be ready to do God’s work. The Virgin Mary shows us that he can do great things in us.

The homilist pointed to several qualities that we need, exemplified in Mary. First is humility; she is “the Lord’s lowly servant.” Humility prevents us from having a sense of entitlement as if God owed us something. He cited the Salesian Constitutions, demonstrating God’s work in calling us in Baptism and religious vocation. The initiative is always his, and he who did great things in Mary will do great things in those he calls.

Other qualities of Mary are relevant to religious vows. She models how to respond to God in obedience, accepting God’s plan, even embracing her Son’s cross. She responds to God’s plan with a sense of poverty; she becomes rich because she brings the Savior to humanity. When we have Jesus with us and in his Church, we have all we need. At this point, Fr. Dominic addressed the numerous young people in the congregation, challenging them to behold the witness of the five men about to make their religious profession and to consider their own vocations—possibly to marriage, priesthood, or religious life. All vocations are ways for us to be like Mary, Christ-bearers.

Mary also responds to God’s plan in her chastity. The haste with which she went to Elizabeth’s assistance illustrates love and service for others. Living in a religious community, we seek to recognize God in one another, and we love others because we recognize God in them. Our chastity means loving God in people and loving people in God, putting others ahead of ourselves.

Fr. Dominic concluded by linking the day’s rite with two historical events of 2025: the 150th anniversary of the first Salesian missionary expedition (1875) and the Church’s jubilee year. Don Bosco told the first missionaries that they would be doing God’s work; doing God’s work unites all of us wherever we may be. The theme of the jubilee is hope. A Salesian, said the preacher, is always cheerful because he or she bears Good News. With God we have hope and can do great things.

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