Our Lady of Grace pastor celebrates 25 years in priesthood

Close to 400 people filled Our Lady of Grace church – and much of its parking lot – Friday for a Mass and potluck dinner honoring Rev. Marcos Velasquez’s 25-year anniversary of becoming a priest.

The guests included friends, family, former parishioners and fellow priests. Nine priests from around the state, including one serving in Germany, came to Maricopa to support their friend and colleague.

Velasquez, the pastor at Maricopa’s catholic church, was ordained June 3, 1989 in St. Augustine Cathedral in Tucson.

“It’s gone by fast. It seems like yesterday, just like I started,” he said.

Velasquez said the priesthood has “far surpassed” his expectations: “I never thought I’d be in a position to be in the different places I’ve been, the people I’ve met, and then of course here in Maricopa the opportunity to build a church. I just never thought it would fall to me, but thank the Lord; He’s given me that chance, the opportunity and the support of the people.”

Our Lady of Grace is in the process of building a new church as the anchor to a mix-use development called The Crossing. The new church will increase seating capacity from about 200 to 1,500.

One of the visiting priests was Fr. Martin Martinez, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Nogales, Arizona. He gave the homily and reflected on their meeting in the seminary.

“Father, as you know, never changes,” Martinez said. “He’s like the Lord; the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”

Parishioner JoAnn Ortega, whose husband is the church’s deacon, said: “Fr. Velasquez has been a tremendous asset to the community. He’s really done a good job of bringing people together in a community of faith and moved the construction of our church forward at a time when it was really difficult to do so.”