Guillermo Alonso

Guillermo Alonso is a native of East Los Angeles who was born on Tuesday 12 September 1995. Guillermo much rather prefers to be called “Memo” for such is the common nickname for those with his first name.

 

Memo is the son of Mexican parents and the youngest of five children. Memo grew up attending Sunday Mass at Santa Isabel Catholic Church in Boyle Heights, where the seeds of his vocation towards the ministerial priesthood were sewn. A missionary priest by the name of Father Julio Cesar Ibarra, MSP inspired him to consider priesthood from the young age of seven. The dedication to his academic studies, his unconditional care from his family, and his faith in God are what kept Memo focused when growing up in the inner-city section of Los Angeles. The sociological circumstances he grew up in have served him as an inspiration of wanting to help people all people no matter who they are or what they have done in life and thus he feels he can best do this by helping others find their happiness in God through the sacramental life of the Roman Catholic Church.

 

Memo was given an opportunity by the De La Salle Brothers of the Christian Schools to study at Cathedral High School in downtown Los Angeles. Memo found himself playing football for Cathedral and was very involved in the school so much so that Brother John Montgomery, FSC nominated him to receive the Archdiocesan Christian Service Award by Archbishop José Horacio Gómez, STD on Tuesday 18 March 2014. Memo was further encouraged by the Lasallian Brothers and the priests at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles to pursue priesthood.

 

Memo entered into priestly formation with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles in August of 2014, which was precisely three months after graduating from Cathedral High School. Memo lived at the Juan Diego House of Formation (now called Queen of Angels Center for Priestly Formation) in the city of Gardena for three years, where he would eventually find himself earning a Bachelors’ of Arts degree in Philosophy of Religious Studies option with a minor in Sociology from California State University of Dominguez Hills in the city of Carson. Memo has been studying Theology at Saint John’s Seminary in the city of Camarillo since August of 2017 where he hopes to earn a Masters in Divinity in the year of 2022. Memo was assigned by Saint John’s to be an intern seminarian for Mission Basilica San Buenaventura in the city of Ventura during his parochial year of priestly formation from August of 2019 to July of 2020 under the mentorship of Father Thomas James Elewaut. Memo has just returned to Saint John’s to continue with his graduate studies as a seminarian in his Third Year of Theology. Memo is on track to hopefully, if God wills it for him, to be ordained a deacon in May of 2021 and a priest in June of 2021.

 

Memo is more than excited about being a board member of the non-profit organization of Claver Cares. His humble upbringings in the inner city of Los Angeles, the five core principles of a Lasallian education that he was brought up with when in High School, his passion for service, and his love for God and much more have him very much so looking forward to being a member of this service organization inspired by the historical missionary works of Saint Peter Claver.