After more than a decade of educating aspiring Catholic priests in his native Philippines, the Rev. Jay Jacinto was ready for a change.
Jacinto, 48, was ordained in 2005. He worked in the Philippines for 17 years before volunteering to serve abroad in 2022. A year later, the bishop of his home diocese assigned him to the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg.
“I was nervous. I was afraid,” Jacinto said, “but then I just saw it as a new challenge for me, a learning experience and an opportunity, of course, to be able to share the goodness of Christ.”
There is no shortage of priests in the Philippines, Jacinto said. But that is not the case in the United States, which saw a 40% decline in total number of priests between 1970 and 2020, according to a 2024 report from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.
The Diocese of Greensburg is no exception. Without the support of international clergy, Bishop Larry Kulick says he wouldn’t be able to staff the diocese’s parishes.
When the diocese first formed, splitting off from the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1951, it had 114 parishes, 121 priests and about 170,000 church members across its four counties — Armstrong, Fayette, Indiana and Westmoreland.
Today, there are 78 parishes, 71 priests and about 133,000 members, according to spokesperson Cliff Gorski.
Those numbers would be even lower without the support of international clergy, Kulick said. About one-third of the diocese’s priests — 24 — are from foreign countries.
“You take away our international priests, I don’t know what I would do to staff parishes,” he said. “Parish life would look a lot different.”
Monsignor James Gaston suspects church consolidations and closures — which he called deaths — would become more common without international priests.
“If [parishioners] continue to practice their faith, they’d have to move to a neighboring or nearby church,” said Gaston, director of the diocese’s international priest program.
Take the diocese’s four parishes in New Kensington and Lower Burrell, for example.
Three international priests — the Revs. Elpido Alcontin, Dick Anthony Cortado and Rodolfo Mejia Jr. — help fill the parishes’ needs. Mt. Saint Peter, St. Joseph, St. Mary of Czestochowa and St. Margaret Mary churches could not be adequately staffed without them, Gaston said.
“They’d have to have a drastically reduced (Mass) schedule,” he said, “and whether or not they can be maintained long term with the already declining population, those are matters for planning in the future.”
International priests fill clerical gaps
Since being named bishop in 2020, Kulick has worked to keep open as many churches as possible. A decreasing regional population and, subsequently, a declining local economy have made that difficult, he said.
Between 2010 and 2019, population declined 6.3% in Armstrong, 5.4% each in Fayette and Indiana, and 4.4% in Westmoreland, according to the Pennsylvania State Data Center. That represents a loss of more than 32,600 people.
“You can have the best policies. You can have the most faithful people,” Kulick said. “If you don’t have jobs, you don’t have desirable living conditions, and you don’t have population, you’ve got one hand tied behind your back.
“That’s the challenge that I think we’re facing, but it’s a challenge that — talk to fire departments, talk to fraternal organizations, talk to people even in local communities trying to get people to run on a ballot, to fill a ballot for school board or mayor. The demographic is really starting to affect us.”
The diocese’s international priest program, launched in 2010 by Bishop Lawrence Brandt, is helping to address the issue.
Priests from across the globe volunteer to serve five-year missions, not knowing where they will be sent, Gaston said. After a series of virtual interviews, Kulick works with the bishop of the priest’s home diocese to determine if they are a good fit for Greensburg.
Bringing an international priest into a parish comes with a transition period, Gaston said.
“I think initially, (parishioners) are reluctant, are standoffish,” he said, “because the main criticism is it’s hard understand them through their accents and their pronunciation of American English.
“But little by little, what I’m discovering is they’ve learned to come to love and respect the international priests. There’s a growing relationship there, mutually.”
Nigerian priest looks fondly on experience
One of the diocese’s international priests is the Rev. Anthony Onoko, who leads St. John the Baptist Parish in Perryopolis, St. Sebastian Parish in North Belle Vernon and Epiphany of Our Lord Parish in Monessen. Onoko, 44, came to the diocese from his home country, Nigeria, in 2020.
Seven years after being ordained, Onoko volunteered to serve a mission outside of his home country. He was grateful to be assigned to the Diocese of Greensburg, fulfilling his childhood dream of moving to the United States.
“It’s a world power,” Onoko said. “I think I really like that. They have a lot of people of great faith here — good people, kind people.”
Onoko does not know if his mission will be extended beyond five years, but he looks fondly on his experience so far — including his first diocesan assignment, St. Raymond of the Mountains Parish in Donegal.
“The people I have served among, like the parishioners in Donegal — even though I was the only Black guy in that area, they were so nice to me,” he said.
Jacinto adapts to different culture
Transitioning to work in a foreign country is not without its challenges, Jacinto said.
Despite having a strong command of the English language, Jacinto said his accent occasionally complicates communication with parishioners and the students at Greensburg Central Catholic High School, where he serves as chaplain.
“To me, I don’t have to learn those deep words just to sound like, ‘Oh, you’re very scholarly,’” he said. “To me, that’s not important. What is important is I’m able to express myself with the message of Jesus.”
The greater adjustment for Jacinto was adapting to a population where Catholicism is not the norm.
The majority of the Philippines’ population — 81% — identifies as Catholic, according to Pew Research Center. Catholics make up 20% of U.S. adults, Pew reported.
“The classroom setting is very different from ours,” Jacinto said, “because in the Philippines, the majority of students are Catholics and they’re so used to a priest’s presence and the basic Christian doctrines.”
Now two years on the job, Jacinto said he has built a strong rapport with Greensburg Central Catholic’s students, as well as his parishioners. He will remain in the diocese until 2028.
“I know after I go back to the Philippines, they’ll forget about me. They’ll forget about my face,” Jacinto said. “But I know that they will never forget how they have been touched this one time by a priest.”
Pittsburgh diocese could see more international priests
In the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the vast majority of priests are native to the U.S., said the Rev. Michael Conway, episcopal vicar for clergy.
But there is a growing need for international priests, as the diocese’s priest population continues to age and diversity in the area increases, Conway said.
Of the diocese’s 257 priests, just 24 of them are under age 40, he said. Ninety-three, about 36% of the diocese’s priests, are older than 75. Seven of the priests came from other countries.
The diocese’s Spanish speaking population, in particular, is on the rise in areas such as Washington County, Ambridge and Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood, Conway said. A native priest who spent 15 years as a mission in Brazil conducts one Portuguese Mass per week, but Conway estimates the diocese would see strong turnout if it added an extra service.
The diocese also has seen increases in Mass attendance and registration to its OCIA — Order of Christian Initiation of Adults — program across the past three years, Conway said.
On average, about three or four priests are ordained in the diocese each year. That’s not enough to meet the diocese’s needs, Conway said.
“There’s definitely a return to the faith that’s happening, and we’d love to be able to respond to that more than we can,” he said. “Bringing in international priests, it’s not an easy way, but it’s a quick way of doing that.”
International priests also offer a unique perspective to parishioners, Conway said, citing a recent meeting with a priest who came from Nigeria.
“We don’t, I think, appreciate what some of our brothers and sisters in other countries are going through. Nigeria is a very violent place for Christians right now,” Conway said. “That’s not just a thing that (the priest) sees buried in the international news section. That’s a real thing for him.
“He can share that story with other people, and I think that, long term, starts to have an effect on how people understand the church.”