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Photographing Three Priests Ordination at St Charles Borromeo
Updated: Jul 22
Some moments are too sacred to be treated as ordinary memories.
As photographers, we often talk about preserving a day, a face, a family, or a milestone. A priestly ordination asks for something more. It is a moment in the living history of the Church. It changes the men who receive the sacrament, the families who have prayed them there, and the faithful who will one day receive the sacraments through their hands.
It was an incredible privilege to photograph the Diocese of Fresno’s Priesthood Ordination Mass at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Visalia, where Fr. Marco Ayala, Fr. Scott Borba, and Fr. Francisco Orozco were ordained to the Holy Priesthood by His Excellency, The Most Reverend Joseph V. Brennan.
Thousands of faithful gathered from across the Central Valley to witness three men offer their lives completely to Christ and His Church. The atmosphere carried a rare mix of joy, awe, silence, and celebration. There was a sense that everyone present understood the weight of what was happening.
The Ordination Mass of Father Marco Ayala, Scott Borba, and Francisco Orozco was not simply an event to document. It was a holy encounter to receive with reverence, then photograph with care.
A church built to lift hearts to heaven
From the moment you enter St. Charles Borromeo, you are reminded that sacred architecture has a purpose.
Every arch, beam, and line of the sanctuary draws the eye upward. The space invites prayer before anything is said. Light moves through the church in a way that softens the room and turns attention toward the altar, the place where heaven touches earth in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
As one of the largest Catholic churches in North America, St. Charles Borromeo provides a breathtaking setting for diocesan celebrations. Yet its beauty does not compete with the liturgy. It serves it.
That distinction matters.
Beautiful churches are not made only to impress. In the Catholic tradition, beauty is a path toward God. The height of the ceiling, the warmth of the wood, the placement of the altar, the movement of light, and the silence before Mass all work together. They help the faithful remember that the liturgy is not a performance. It is worship.
As a photographer, I found myself constantly looking for ways to show both the people and the church that surrounded them. The soaring ceiling, the warm natural light, and the sacred design became part of the story. They gave visual language to what the Church believes.
Beauty leads us to God. On this day, that truth was everywhere.
Three men answering one call
Every ordination is unique because every vocation is personal.
Fr. Marco Ayala, Fr. Scott Borba, and Fr. Francisco Orozco each arrived at the altar through his own path of prayer, formation, sacrifice, and discernment. Their stories are different, but their “yes” led to the same place: the sanctuary, before the bishop, before the Church, and before God.
There are moments during an ordination that reveal this in a quiet but powerful way.
The candidates are called by name. The Church asks if they are worthy. They stand before the bishop and publicly commit themselves to the service of Christ and His people. They promise obedience. They lie prostrate during the Litany of Supplication as the saints are invoked.
That moment of prostration is one of the most moving scenes in the Roman rite. The men lie face down before the altar, completely still, while the Church prays over them. It is a posture of surrender. It says, without words, that the priesthood is not claimed. It is received.
For a photographer, this is not a moment to chase. It is a moment to approach carefully. The image should never feel like an intrusion. It should help the faithful remember the meaning of what took place.
Photographing the sacred without interrupting it
A Catholic ordination is full of movement, but the movement belongs to the liturgy. The photographer has to work within that reality.
There are no do-overs during the laying on of hands. No pause during the prayer of ordination. No chance to ask a newly ordained priest to repeat the moment when his hands are anointed with sacred chrism. The Mass unfolds as prayer, and the photographer’s role is to serve that prayer quietly.
That kind of photography requires more than technical skill. It requires familiarity with the rite.
A Catholic photographer needs to know where the bishop will stand, when the candidates will move, where the vesting will happen, and which moments carry the deepest sacramental meaning. Anticipation matters. So does restraint.
At an ordination, I look for images that show:
The solemnity of the liturgy
The joy of the families
The unity of the clergy
The beauty of the church
The prayer of the faithful
The first visible moments of priestly identity
Some of the strongest photographs happen in silence. A hand resting on a shoulder. A parent wiping away tears. A priest bowing his head in prayer. The newly ordained standing at the altar for the first time as priests.
A good photograph from an ordination should feel reverent even years later. It should not call attention to the photographer. It should point back to the grace of the sacrament.
For a Catholic Photographer, especially one sharing work through a Catholic church blog, the goal is more than making beautiful images. The goal is to tell the truth of the day with faith, clarity, and respect.
The laying on of hands and the prayer of ordination
The heart of the ordination rite is not loud.
After the promises and the Litany of Supplication, the bishop lays hands on each candidate in silence. Then the priests present do the same. One by one, they place hands upon the heads of the men to be ordained.
That silence speaks deeply.
It shows apostolic continuity, the passing on of the priestly ministry through the Church. It is intimate and universal at the same time. Each man kneels individually, but the whole Church is present in prayer.
Then comes the prayer of ordination, prayed by the bishop. Through this prayer and the laying on of hands, the sacrament is conferred. The men who entered as deacons rise as priests of Jesus Christ.
Photographically, this part of the Mass demands careful attention. The gestures are simple, but the meaning is immense. The challenge is to capture the closeness of the moment without crowding it.
A wide image can show the unity of the presbyterate gathered around the ordinands. A closer image can show the bishop’s hands, the bowed head of the man being ordained, and the stillness of the sanctuary. Both matter.
The best frame is often the one that lets the viewer feel the silence.
The joy that followed the sacrament
After the prayer of ordination, the newly ordained priests are vested with the stole and chasuble. Their hands are anointed. They receive the chalice and paten. The visible signs of their new priestly ministry begin to unfold before the people of God.
The joy in the church grows in a beautiful way.
Families who had prayed for years saw a promise fulfilled. Friends, parish communities, priests, religious, seminarians, and lay faithful witnessed the fruit of God’s call. The Diocese of Fresno received three new priests for the service of the Church.
That joy did not feel casual. It felt grateful.
There is a particular kind of joy at an ordination. It is not simply excitement, though there is plenty of that. It is the joy of seeing Christ provide for His Church. It is the joy of knowing that future baptisms, confessions, anointings, homilies, weddings, funerals, and Masses will flow through these newly ordained hands.
Those hands will absolve sins.
Those hands will elevate the Eucharist.
Those hands will bless the sick, comfort the grieving, and feed the faithful with the Body and Blood of Christ.
That is why an ordination matters beyond the one day. It reaches forward into parish life, family life, hospital rooms, schools, missions, and quiet confessionals. A priestly ordination is a gift that keeps giving because a priest’s life is given away.
Why these photographs matter for the Church
A photograph cannot fully hold the mystery of a sacrament. It can only witness to it.
Still, photographs matter.
They help families remember. They help dioceses preserve their history. They help future seminarians imagine their own possible “yes.” They give parishioners a way to celebrate and pray for their priests. They allow the Church to look back and say, “God was faithful here.”
Images from an ordination also teach. A single photograph of the Litany of Supplication can show humility. A photograph of the laying on of hands can show apostolic succession. A photograph of the newly ordained at the altar can show the dignity of the priesthood.
When photographed well, sacred images do more than record what happened. They invite prayer.
That is why I kept returning to the same question throughout the Mass: what does this moment reveal about God’s work in His Church?
At St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, the answer appeared again and again in the faces of the faithful, in the hands of the bishop, in the prayer of the clergy, and in the quiet surrender of three men who gave their lives to Christ.
From beauty to holiness
The ordination of Fr. Marco Ayala, Fr. Scott Borba, and Fr. Francisco Orozco was a day filled with visible beauty. The church was stunning. The music lifted hearts. The liturgy unfolded with dignity. The gathering of the faithful showed the strength and love of the local Church.
Yet the deepest beauty of the day was holiness.
Holiness appeared in surrender. In obedience. In prayer. In the courage to give one’s whole life to Christ. In the Church receiving three new priests and sending them out to serve.
That is what I hope these photographs preserve.
Not only the size of the church.
Not only the number of people gathered.
Not only the grandeur of the liturgy.
The real story is grace. Three men knelt before the Church and rose as priests. The faithful rejoiced. The Diocese of Fresno received a gift. And in the heart of St. Charles Borromeo Church, beauty did what sacred beauty is meant to do.
It pointed everyone toward God.
To View the entire gallery of the Ordination mass
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