Spanish trio of priests finds meaning and mission in the U.S.
This article is republished from the spring 2025 issue of The Vincentian, the quarterly newsletter of the Congregation of the Mission Western Province.
Three Spanish Vincentian priests residing in Montebello and Los Angeles, CA, share the same origin story. Fr. Pedro Villarroya, C.M., Fr. Antonio Ruiz, C.M., and Fr. Prudencio Rodriguez, C.M., each came to the U.S. from their home province to study and prepare to serve in the Philippines.
None of them would go to the Philippines, and each would spend his entire ministry in the U.S.
Fr. Pedro Villarroya, C.M.
Fr. Pedro left his home in Madrid in 1955 for Perryville, MO, with three other seminarians to study theology. The Vincentian province in Madrid had a presence in the Philippines.
“In 1958, I found out half the class was going to the Philippines while the rest of us were going to remain in the states,” Fr. Pedro said.
He was ordained the following year and taught for a few years in seminaries in San Antonio, TX, and Camarillo, CA. In the ensuing years, amid his parochial work in Texas and California, he became involved in community organizing and working against anti-immigrant legislation, and around 1968 the Provincials in Spain and the U.S. agreed he could stay in America.
“After I got out of community organizing, I decided I wanted to work with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul,” he said, “which I did for 30 years.”
As coordinator of education and formation for the lay members of the society, he visited every diocese in 10 western states, including Hawaii, coordinating between and organizing with bishops.
“The person who understood the Vincentian calling better than anyone was Frederick Ozanam (founder of the society),” said Fr. Pedro, now 90. “He chose not to teach them, but to love them. That is what Jesus was all about, what Vincent was all about, and what our vocation is all about. That is sacred to me.”
Fr. Antonio Ruiz, C.M.
Fr. Antonio (Tony) Ruiz, got to know the Vincentians through the Daughters of Charity in his native Madrid and came to the U.S. in 1961 to study. Two years before ordination, he also discovered he was not going to the Philippines.
He was ordained in Chicago in 1965 and began working at St. John’s Seminary in Kansas City before transferring to the seminary in Camarillo, CA, and later to parochial work. In 1975, his home province asked him if he wanted to continue in the U.S., which he did.
While serving at the parish in Fort Myers, FL, in the mid-1980s, he was approached by the bishop there to serve as his liaison for charismatic renewal, which came out of Vatican II.
“The Pope and the bishops wanted to bring the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the whole church through prayer and the freedom to do it spontaneously,” he said. “It was a rich learning experience, being with people who prayed with so much faith and enthusiasm.”
Later, as pastor at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in LA, he became the first spiritual director of Vincentian Lay Missioners, now Misioneros Catolicos, which comes together to support members of the community who are struggling and has expanded into multiple dioceses, including in Mexico.
At 83, living in Montebello, he keeps busy helping out at local parishes.
“Many parishes used to have two or three priests and now have only the pastor,” he said. “I help them out in different ways, and I will do it as long as I can.”
Fr. Prudencio Rodriguez de Yurre, C.M.
A classmate of Fr. Tony Ruiz, C.M., Fr. Prudencio taught at St. Louis Prep Seminary initially and decided to pursue a Ph.D. in Spanish literature so he could teach college. He later taught at DePaul University in Chicago, where he also served in the administration.
He went from DePaul to pastoral ministry and back to teaching, this time at St. Thomas Theological Seminary in Denver, where he taught from 1978 until it closed in 1994.
“I loved it very much,” he said. “After the seminary closed, I asked, ‘What do I do now?’”
Fr. Prudencio conducted programs and retreats for Spanish-speaking people in Phoenix and then Denver and relocated to Montebello in 2010 to direct the DePaul Evangelization Center, which he did until he “retired” in 2016.
“A little bit before that, I began working as the spiritual director for the Spanish-speaking programs at the Association of the Miraculous Medal,” he said.
Now 83 and blessed with good health, he visits parishes and conducts 3- to 4-day missions to promote devotion to the Blessed Mother.
“I think the most important thing we can do is promote that devotion,” he said. “The Spanish-speaking people have a strong devotion to Mary. I bring Miraculous Medals with me, and I never seem to have enough. I don’t have to say very much. They know what it means, and that is very fulfilling to me.”