New Rochelle: Two Salesian High Alumni to be Ordained to the Priesthood

By Fr. Jim Heuser, SDB

(New Rochelle, NY – May 22) – On Saturday, May 25, Timothy Cardinal Dolan will ordain two alumni of Salesian High School as diocesan priests in a 9:00 a.m. Mass of Ordination at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Viktor Gjergji, of an Albanian-American family, was a parishioner of St. Lucy Parish in the Bronx. He graduated from Salesian in 2015. After completing his undergraduate studies, he was sent to study theology at the North American College in Rome. During those years, he was part of Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls Tour Apostolate, where he gave tours of this major basilica to numerous pilgrims and visitors. After three years, he served at St. Columba Church in Hopewell Junction for a pastoral year. He then returned to Rome for one more year to complete his studies.

Vincent Castaldi was raised first in Yonkers and then in the Bronx. His family joined St. Frances de Chantal Parish in Throggs Neck. He graduated from Salesian in 2010. He completed his undergraduate studies at Loyola University in Baltimore and went on to do graduate studies in philosophy at Leuven in Belgium. He entered initial formation with the Jesuits for a time, after which he served as a Seton Teaching Fellow at a middle school in the South Bronx. He then entered formation with the Archdiocese of New York, completing his theology studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.

We recall the words of Don Bosco: “Remember that we are presenting a great gift to the Church when we find a good vocation; that this vocation goes to the diocese, to the missions, or in a religious house, it does not matter. It is always a great treasure that you are offering to the Church of Jesus Christ.”