GASTONIA — Father José Antonio Juya Vargas is celebrating his 40th anniversary of ordination this year.
He was born in Rondón, Boyacá, a cattle-raising and coffee-growing area in eastern Colombia, on July 15, 1952.
He was named after two saints: one also his father’s name, José Estanislao Juya, and the other in honor of the devotion of his mother, Doña Briceida Vargas, to St. Anthony.
His Catholic faith was deepened thanks to the example of his mother, a leader of the Daughters of Mary and the Legion of Mary.
“At home we never talked about the priesthood,” Father Juya recalls. “At that time, in my town, only wealthy people became priests because the seminary cost a lot and was out of our reach.”
When he was in the fourth grade, priests of the Somascan Fathers from Italy approached him and his friends, handing out flyers that talked about priestly vocations. “I took that flyer home and my mom kept it,” he recalls.
When he finished primary school at the age of 13, his parents decided that the Somascans’ offer was an opportunity that should not be wasted. “They packed the bags for me and my brother Filemón Arsenio Juya Vargas, and we went to Bogotá to study high school with them.”
They finished high school at Colegio Calasanz in Bogotá, then they completed their novitiate in Central America. After returning to Bogotá, the Juya brothers took temporary vows, and thanks to Archbishop Augusto Trujillo Arango from Tunja, Boyacá, they became diocesan seminarians and entered the Archdiocesan Regional Major Seminary in Tunja. There Father Juya studied four years of philosophy and another four years of theology.
On Dec. 12, 1981, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, José and his brother Filemón were ordained priests by Monsignor Juan Eliseo Mojíca Oliveros at St. Raphael Church in Rondón.
After receiving holy orders, thanks to his training in philosophy, psychology and education at Santo Tomás and La Sabana universities, Father Juya was assigned to the Cathedral of Garagoa to serve with youth ministry. Later, he was assigned to an armed conflict zone where he met a Scalabrinian Missionaries priest, member of a religious order that works with migrants, who suggested he serve at a foreign mission.
His brother Filemón was the first to go on mission – moving to Ontario, Canada. But soon Father Juya followed in his brother’s footsteps. Both studied at the University of Waterloo in Ontario and traveled together to Rome for a pastoral course.
Later, Father Filemón was called to service in South Carolina, and Father Juya again followed him for a short time. “It was the year 2000, and there I met Father Vincent Finnerty, then in charge of Hispanic Ministry in the Diocese of Charlotte, who brought me to the Vicariate of Gastonia. ‘I’m going to give you the easiest one,’ he told me,” Father Juya recalls with a smile.
The Juya brothers remained united and close to each other until Father Filemón’s death, on June 30, 2011, in Columbia, S.C. “He died in my arms,” Father Juya notes with sadness.
Besides his current service as Hispanic Ministry coordinator at St. Michael Church in Gastonia, Father Juya has also served in Forest City, Shelby, Lincolnton and Belmont.
He enjoys his pastoral work. “I love my profession as a priest and my mission is to train leaders, people who feel part of the Church,” he says.
He has relied on his travels and life experiences to relate to others in his priestly ministry.
In his youth he was a basketball, tennis and ping-pong player. He enjoys horseback riding and also has been – this may surprise you – a bullfighter.
To those who want to become priests, Father Juya advises, “Study the human sciences above all, because the Gospel is embodied in what life itself is.”
“The priest must be accompanied, not seen only as an administrator, but as a brother. He also feels pain, illness, joy, he has plans. I thank the people, especially the poorest, who are always looking out for one another.”