When Father Jaime Arriaga left Mexico at age 17 and returned to California where he had lived briefly, he didn’t realize that was the last time he’d see his parents for decades.
But 23 years later, his parents arrived from Mexico in the early morning of June 1 to see their son in a new country, a new life, and with a new title: priest.
Arriaga was one of 11 men — along with Miguel Cabrera, Joseph Cho, Thomas Green, Anthony Huynh, Eric Mejia, Eduardo Pruneda, Alejandro Reynaga, Marko Rudela, Lucio Trinidad, and Stephen Watson — ordained as new priests for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in a special event at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. More than 3,500 invited guests and 260 priests attended the ceremony featuring the biggest priest ordination class in the archdiocese since 2008.