Father Jose Cruz

Six years ago, Jose Cruz was a passenger in an automobile accident in his native Dominican Republic that killed his sister-in-law and four others. “My spine was broken into 10 parts and my doctor did not guarantee my survival,” he said.

It was Monday of Holy Week. That Holy Thursday Jose underwent a 10-hour surgery. “They put 10 nails in my spine and the surgeon told me that it would be at least one year before I could walk again.”

The following day, after his doctor explained how to use a wheelchair, Jose asked to be helped out of bed to walk instead. The doctor discouraged him. “I insisted. Incredibly, I could walk. It was Good Friday at 3:30 p.m.”

Apostolic assignments at the St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, included visiting the sick at St. Barnabas Hospital, the Bronx; volunteering at Casa Juan Diego, Yonkers and serving as a bilingual RCIA catechist at St. Joseph’s, Yonkers. His parish assignment, for three consecutive summers, was at St. Mary’s, Poughkeepsie.

Born in Santiago, Dominican Republic, Jose, now 35, had a typical childhood: school, games, Mass every Sunday. A critical thinker, he chose to pursue a career in engineering. But by the time he earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, he felt strongly the call to priesthood. He was admitted to the diocesan seminary in his country.

In 2006, as he was preparing for the diaconate, his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in the Dominican Republic, and his brother with prostrate cancer in Atlanta. Both required surgery and chemotherapy.

Because his family was suddenly in a difficult financial situation due to medical expenses, Jose selflessly decided to discontinue his seminary studies and find employment.

He moved to New York in 2007 and found a job as a pastry chef in a restaurant. At the same time, he assisted with Mass every Sunday at Sacred Heart in the Bronx, keeping alive, through prayer, his hope of being ordained a priest one day.

He returned to the Dominican Republic in 2009. Three days later he was injured in the automobile accident. An hour before their accident, his sister-in-law invited him to pray. “My prayer was desperate because I felt lost. I did not know what God’s will was for me. I still felt the vocation to the priesthood, but my financial situation forced me to continue working.”

Six months after the accident, Jose returned to work in New York to pay for his medical expenses and remained hopeful about pursuing the priesthood. “What I never before imagined was the possibility of joining the Archdiocese of New York.”

“I feel grateful,” first, to New York, Father Cruz said. “At the time I was needing a job, this city opened its doors to me. In my country, it was very difficult to find a job. And here I came and two days after I found a good job.”

And to the archdiocese. “Even as an international student, I was received here equally as the other students.”

Pastimes include swimming, jogging and learning the cultures of others. The youngest of three children of Mercedes Alvarez and the late Jose N. Cruz Sr., he has a brother, Jose N. Cruz Jr. and a sister, Rosalba Cruz.

Father Cruz is curious if his father, who died when Jose was 11, could ever have imagined that one of his sons would become a priest. He considers it a distinct privilege to remember him among the Communion of Saints when he celebrates his First Mass.

Father James Cruz will celebrate his First Mass Sunday, May 24 at 3 p.m. at St. Mary’s Church in Poughkeepsie. Father George Sears, pastor of St. Mary’s, will serve as homilist.