Fathers Adriano, José, and Paulo Borges celebrated 25 years of priesthood on Friday (25) at the mother church of Ponta Delgada, in São Miguel, Diocese of Angra, Portugal. The three are brothers. José and Paulo are twins. They were ordained together on July 25, 2000.

Father Adriano Borges was born in April 1974. The twins José and Paulo were born in February 1975. Currently, all three work on the island of São Miguel.

Father Adriano Borges is the parish priest of the parish church of São Sebastião in Ponta Delgada, director of the Diocesan Service for Support to School Pastoral Care, assistant to the Diocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church, and guest lecturer at the Episcopal Seminary of Angra. Father José Borges is the parish priest of Água de Alto, São Pedro, and São Miguel, in Vila Franca do Campo, the parish priest in solidum of Ribeira das Taínhas and Ponta Garça, and a teacher of Catholic Moral and Religious Education. Father Paulo Borges is the parish vicar of São Pedro, of the parish church of São Miguel and Água d’Alto, president of the Diocesan Commission for Pastoral Care in Health, and chaplain of the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo in Ponta Delgada.

At the silver jubilee Mass, Father Adriano Borges recalled that on July 25, the Church celebrates St. James the Greater, who, along with Peter and John, was Jesus’ favorite disciple.

“It is not a special preference, but it is symbolic because we are here, the three brothers. Not Peter, James, and John, but Adriano, Paulo, and José,” said the priest, according to Agência Ecclesia, of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference.

Father Adriano said that Jesus “chose those he wanted” and that they were “men with many frailties, with many weaknesses.”

According to him, “priests are not perfect people.” “The priest makes the community, but the community also makes the priest,” he said.

Father Adriano emphasized that the priest’s mission is “to bring people to Jesus.”

“A priest whose primary function or mission is not to bring people to Christ is not fulfilling what was asked of him,” he said, adding that “what Jesus asked is to bring those, or all, to Him.”

From http://acidigital.com
Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.