We are blessed!

Congratulations to Fr. Pedro Suárez, S.J. ‘58, Fr. Eduardo Barrios, S.J. ‘60, Fr. Alberto García, S.J., Fr. Pedro Gónzalez- Llorente, S.J. '58, Fr. Guillermo Arias, S.J., and Fr. Manuel Maza, S.J. '62 who are celebrating 50 years of priesthood service. Four of them, Father Suárez, García, Maza, and Barrios, were ordained together at Gesu Catholic Church in Miami on June 24, 1972

On April 12, they were acknowledged at the Chrism Mass by Archbishop Thomas Wenski at the Cathedral of St. Mary where they also renewed their commitment to priestly service. Thank you for your dedication to your vocation and for all that you do for our Belen community. 

Read more about them:

Pedro Antonio Suárez González was born on October 20, 1941, in Havana, Cuba. He graduated from el Colegio de Belén in 1958 and studied architecture at the Universidad Católica de Santo Tomás de Villanueva (1958-1961). He entered the Society of Jesus at the Instituto Pignatelli in Los Teques, Venezuela, on April 9, 1961, studied philosophy at Fordham University’s Loyola Seminary (1964-1966), and taught during his regency at the Colegio Loyola in the Dominican Republic (1966-1967). He received a master’s in mathematics from the University of Miami (1969) and a master’s in divinity from Loyola University-Chicago (1973). He was ordained at Gesu Catholic Church in Miami on June 24, 1972, and received a doctorate in mathematics from Northwestern University (1977). 

Father Suárez worked in the Dominican Republic from 1977 until his return to Miami in 1987. He was a professor at Barry University (1987-2008) and chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science for eleven years. He has been a member of the Jesuit-founded Clavius Group of Mathematicians since 1971. He served as superior to the Miami Jesuits from 1991 to 1997, and again from 2010 to 2016. He served as president of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami, Florida from 2009 to 2016. 

Currently, he serves as the President & Chairman of Regis House in Miami and as a Spiritual Counselor at Belen Jesuit. 

Eduardo Manuel Barrios Rosabal was born on July 11, 1943. He began his training as a Jesuit at Instituto Pignatelli, Los Teques, Venezuela in 1962. After two years of Novitiate and one year of Humanities, he moved on to study Philosophy for two years at a seminary associated with Fordham University in New York. On June 24, 1972, he was ordained for the Jesuit Order, Antilles province at Gesu Catholic Church in Miami.

In 1967, he worked at Belen Jesuit’s Little Havana campus where he taught social studies and Spanish. In 1969, he left to pursue studies in Rome and earned a degree in Theology. As a Jesuit priest, he served for twenty-three years in the Dominican Republic before returning to Miami in 1998. 

Fr. Barrios has also served at Gesu Church in downtown Miami and at St. Kieran Parish, Miami. He received the Pro-Ecclesia et Pontifice (For the Church and the Pope) Cross, the highest honor awarded by the Vatican, in March 2013.

He is a frequent contributor to El Nuevo Herald and La Voz Católica as well as other publications in the Dominican Republic. Currently, he serves in the Office of Campus Ministry at Belen Jesuit. 

Alberto Antonio García Sanchez was born in Habana, Cuba on December 11, 1943. Entered the novitiate in Venezuela in April 1961. Taught at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School from 1967 to 1969. On June 24, 1972, he was ordained for the Jesuit Order, Antilles province at Gesu Catholic Church in Miami. Was principal at Belen Jesuit from 1974 to 1977. Obtained a  Master of Arts degree in Education at Loyola University of Chicago and then a Master of Education in Counseling Psychology at the same university in 1979. Worked in the Dominican Republic from 1979 to 2001 and in Cuba from 2001 to 2015.

Currently, he serves as the Spiritual Counselor for Faculty and Staff at Belen Jesuit and is superior to the Miami Jesuits.

Pedro Pablo Gónzalez-Llorente was born on June 29, 1940, in Havana, Cuba, Father González-Llorente studied at Colegio de Belen and Universidad de La Habana before entering the Society of Jesus in 1961. He studied at Loyola Seminary on the campus of Fordham University in New York and at the American College of Louvain in Belgium and was ordained on July 30, 1972, in Venezuela. He worked in Catholic radio production in La Vega, Dominican Republic (1973-77) and as a parish priest in Caracas, Venezuela (1977-79) before returning to the Dominican Republic, where he served in various capacities – teaching, radio production, spiritual direction – until 2004 when he returned to his native Cuba to serve in the Archdiocese of Havana. He came to Miami in 2010 and became a spiritual director at the Centro de Espiritualidad Ignaciano (Ignatian Spirituality Center), where he now serves as assistant director.

Guillermo de Jesus Arias de LaTorre was born in Havana, Cuba, on January 2, 1942, Father Arias entered the Jesuit novitiate in the city of Los Teques, Venezuela, in 1961. During his formation process, he studied classics in Venezuela, philosophy in Ecuador, and theology in Toronto. He has master’s degrees in theology and education. As a young Jesuit, he taught religion and was a guidance counselor at Instituto Politecnico Loyola in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic. Ordained June 24, 1972, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he served on the island in various capacities on and off for over 25 years. From 1973 to 1998, he served as spiritual director at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach. In 1998, he became the spiritual director at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami, where he served until 2015 when he became campus minister at Jesuit High School in Tampa. He returned to Miami in 2017. And now serves as a spiritual counselor at Belen Jesuit Prep.

Manuel Pablo Maza Miquel was born on January 19, 1945. He received his ecclesiastical formation at the Instituto San José Pignatelli, Los Teques, Venezuela from 1962 to 1965, then Loyola Seminary, Shrub Oak, New York from 1965 to 1967, and Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, Miami, Florida from 1967 to 1969 and finally at the Institut St. Albert, Eegenhoven, Belgium from 1969 to 1972.

On June 24, 1972, he was ordained for the Jesuit Order, Antilles province at Gesu Catholic Church in Miami. From 1972 to 1973 he attended Bellarmine School of Theology, Chicago, and from 1974 to 1975 Collegio Bellarmino, Rome.

Since 1987 he has been a Professor of Theology and Church History at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), and Professor of History, Instituto Superior Pedro Francisco Bonó, Santo Domingo (1987 – 2012) and at PUCMM,  Santiago de los Caballeros (2012 – 2021), Dominican Republic.

Since 1988, Fr. Maza has frequently published articles in newspapers in the Dominican Republic. For the last twenty years, his columns also appear weekly in the Listin Diario, El Hoy, and Semanario Camino, a publication of the Bishops’ Conference of the DR. 

Fr. Maza has authored several books on the history of the Catholic Church; at least six of them deal with the Catholic Church in Cuba. He also served on the editorial committee of Estudios Sociales, a Jesuit publication in the DR. From 1995 to 2012 he was the advisor of the Christian Life Communities of the DR, and from 2012 to 2021, to the Asociación de Empresarios Cristianos de Santiago de los Caballeros (ACES). 

Currently, Fr. Maza helps at Casa Manresa, Centro de Espiritualidad Ignaciana, in Miami and at Belen Jesuit.