Meet Our New Priests Ordained for the Diocese of Raleigh!
Two men, two countries, two paths to service
By Dana Lorelle
At first glance, Father Michael Spurr and Father Romen Acero don’t have much in common. One hails from the Iowan Midwest, the other from Bogota, Columbia. Backgrounds and languages are distinctly different. But in the same way that the Catholic Church retains the same identity no matter the language or the country, these two men, on June 7, knelt and received something very extraordinary that they will forever hold in common: The Sacrament of Holy Orders.
Romen A. Acero
Father Romen Alfred Acero Molina wants to be the kind of priest that he looked up to as a child in Columbia. “The pastor from my home parish and the nuns were important and a great support during my discernment process,” he said. “The way they performed the ministry in my parish was a wonderful example of priestly and religious life. It was God’s grace, and also thanks to the pastor and nuns’ amazing example – they led me to love and to understand the Church.”
His parents were also central to his formation for a priestly vocation. “My mother had a big influence on me because she taught me to be a good Catholic,” he said. “My parents were wonderful people; they taught us to care about our neighbors.”
Acero grew up with three younger brothers, all of whom still live in Bogota, as does his mother. His father died nine years ago.
As a youth, he drew closer to God by immersing himself in parish life; he participated in the youth group and served as a catechist, activities that he knows helped keep him full of faith when so many around him were losing it. The pastor noted the young man’s zeal and encouraged him to consider the priesthood.
He first heard God’s call at age 14. Over the next few years, he was always closely aligned with the Church; after high school and some work experience, he attended a seminary in Bogota for two years, then taught philosophy at a Catholic high school.
“All these experiences helped me to discover that God calls me to serve the Church by being a priest,” he said.
But it wasn’t until several years later that a friend, Father Fernando Torres, approached him about becoming a priest in the United States. Invited to apply for the priesthood in the Diocese of Raleigh, Acero went through interviews with Father Torres, then Diocesan Vicar for Hispanic Ministry, and with Msgr. Michael Clay, then the Diocesan Director of Vocations.
In 2002, Acero officially became a seminarian with the Diocese and enrolled at St. Mary Seminary in Baltimore, Md. While there he has worked in parishes with RCIA and ministry to the sick. Last summer, along with Spurr, he was ordained to the Diaconate, a day that he calls one of the best of his life. “That was a great day for me,” he said, “because it was the confirmation of my vocation and most of my best friends were with me that day.”
Since then, on weekends he has worked at a parish near the seminary, serving as a Deacon by preaching and leading Mass.
Outside of the religious life, Acero enjoys writing poems in Spanish, swimming and dancing.
Of his strengths as a priest, Father Acero said, “I seek to be humble, friendly, and very sensitive to the needs of the people I serve. I love the Church and strive to be aware of the challenges that the Church in North Carolina is facing now.”
One of the greatest challenges, he noted, is how to address and serve the rapidly growing Hispanic population, and he wants to find ways to build bridges between the Spanish- and English-speaking people of the Diocese. “We are one community,” he said. “We all belong to one Church. I hope that I can be the link that can unite both communities.”
Immigration is another issue facing the Church and American society, he said.
For young men discerning their vocation, Father Acero offered this advice: “I would suggest that they trust God, even if they have fears, doubts, or difficulties. God is the one who calls and He knows them.”
Father Acero has begun his priestly ministry as Parochial Vicar at Saint Thomas More Parish in Chapel Hill.
Father Michael R. Spurr
Catholicism colored the fabric of Father Michael Spurr’s childhood. For Spurr and his four brothers and sisters, family life in Clinton, Iowa, was punctuated by confession, holy days and Stations of the Cross during Lent.
Despite that formation, in college Spurr stepped away from his faith.
Fast-forward seven years through Spurr’s active duty in the Navy and several years as a project manager at a telecommunications company. Restlessness gnawed at him. “I was doing fine by the world’s standards,” he said, “but at the end of the day I’d have this empty hollow feeling inside, and it was because I wasn’t making room for God.”
A move to Raleigh propelled Spurr to look up the closest Catholic parish and start attending. Almost instantly the emptiness departed. “Things blossomed and flourished from there,” he said.
He met the pastor of another local church – St. Luke’s in Raleigh – and became involved in ministry there. Later he would learn that the pastor, Father David Brockman, saw in him the potential for a vocation, and had placed Spurr’s name among the prayer intentions for some at the parish.
While Spurr hadn’t yet discerned his calling from God, he did know one thing: He wanted to help other young people appreciate the fullness of their faith. With this in mind, he became active in youth ministry at St. Luke’s.
“After being there and realizing how satisfying and fulfilling it was to be going back to Mass again, I didn’t want others to feel that emptiness,” he said. “I figured that if I could keep one of these kids from feeling that emptiness, it’d be a measure of success.”
The idea of a vocation to the priesthood continued to take root, especially as he sat on a committee evaluating other potential seminarians.
Over the next few years he made several trips to St. Mary’s in Baltimore, but came away each time decided against the priesthood. However, the funeral of a young drowning victim made Spurr take stock of his life, made him see that his life was not his own but God’s. He asked himself, “What am I being asked to do by the Lord, and how am I responding to it?” A downsizing at his company put him in a position where for the first time he could really hear the answer to that question.
Instead of scrambling for another job, Spurr took time to listen and to pray. He found a spiritual director and began attending daily Mass. Then one day, when he was reading a book at the kitchen table, “Everything went white.”
The grace was so thick he could feel it, Spurr recalled. “God revealed in my heart, ‘Be my priest.’” He responded, “You win, God. I’m not going to fight You anymore.”
He picked up the phone the next day and called the Diocese. In 2002, he was accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Raleigh and entered Theological College in Washington, D.C.
It hasn’t been a journey without trial. Spurr has endured the recent deaths of his father and younger sister, as well as the fatigue and weariness that go with sacrificing your own will to do God’s work. What he has learned, though, is that “Grace sees you through it all. It’s about being present in the moment and asking the Lord what He wants.”
That commitment has taken him, during his seminary years, to soup kitchens and to the Missionaries of Charity, to an AIDS Hospice where he did everything from attending to those in discomfort to bathing those who couldn’t bathe themselves. He has taught Confirmation classes and visited the sick at WakeMed in Raleigh, where he saw the beginning and end of life and everything in between.
It has been, and will be, he said, “a privilege to serve.”
Along with the organizational and administrative skills he developed through his work in the secular world, Father Spurr hopes that his genial and outgoing nature will help in his ministry by drawing people to him. The self-proclaimed “history buff” also enjoys classical music and reading, exercise (especially golf), traveling and spending time outdoors.
“I want people to know that I am grateful beyond any expression for the love and prayer and support I have received over the past years,” he said. “It is very humbling to receive all of that.”
Father Spurr has begun his priestly ministry as Parochial Vicar at Saint Michael the Archangel Parish in Cary.