“I am a priest by the grace of God and a sinner by my reality. I am a man who intensely wants everyone to know that God loves them.”
FR. AGUSTINO TORRES BLESSES AN ATTENDEE OF THE 2023 EUCHARISTIC I AM CONGRESS INSIDE CHRIST CATHEDRAL’S ARBORETUM. PHOTO BY JORGE LUIS MACÍAS/ DIOCESE OF ORANGE
These are the words of Fr. Agustino Torres, C.F.R., a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a mendicant congregation of the Diocese of New York, which was founded in 1987 by eight Capuchin friar priests, including Benedict Groeschel, Andrew Apostoli, Robert Stanion, Glenn Sudano, Stan Fortuna, Robert Lombardo, Joseph Nolan and Pio Mandato.
The goal of the community of 217 members, of whom 65 are priests, is to fight for the return to the authentic Capuchin lifestyle and the renewal of the Catholic Church. The friars are known for their fidelity to the Pope, and their motto is “I will seek the lost; I will bring back the lost.”
Furthermore, it is a Catholic, Franciscan, Capuchin, contemplative, prophetic, apostolic, fraternal and anti abortion community.
In relation to abortion, Fr. Agustino, 47, narrates in an interview with OC Catholic a “miracle” that happened to him several years ago, when he was still a member of the Dunwoodie Seminary, in New York.
“It is one thing to say that a miracle occurred and another thing to accompany the person for the rest of their life,” he said. “Lazarus returned from the dead, but we must also accompany those Lazaruses of these times.”
He was referring to a cousin. She had gotten money to have an abortion in New York, a metropolis where there are thousands of abortion clinics.
That woman repented and returned to Texas.
When the seminarian Agustino Torres had permission from his community to celebrate his birthday with his family, his cousin approached him.
“Forgive me,” she said. “Why? “You haven’t done anything to me!” he responded with surprise.
Through tears, the woman told him that she had given up on taking the life of the innocent being she was carrying in her womb.
Before entering the clinic, she saw that on the other side of the street, her cousin was praying in the Holy Rosary.
“Of all the abortion clinics in New York, she went to where I was,” he said. “God did his work.”
Today, his cousin’s son is 20 years old.
Another miracle that he experienced was the healing of cancer suffered by one of his aunties. “After praying, my aunt was healed literally in a few moments,” revealed the priest.
Q & A with Fr. Agustino Torres
SO FAR, WHAT HAVE BEEN THE THREE GREATEST GIFTS THAT LIFE AND GOD HAVE GIVEN YOU?
Wow! I would have to say my family, my conversion, and my community. My family because they gave me life, they created me, and through the family I received faith.
HOW AND WHEN DID YOUR CONVERSION TOWARD GOD BEGIN?
In certain terms, every day I am still in the process of conversion. It all started at the end of high school when I had the good fortune to travel to a World Youth Day and saw Pope John Paul II in Denver, Colorado. It was in August 1993. My life changed course. I was a sadly normal young man, looking for success, looking for pleasure, looking for how I could have fun. I had a worldly mentality, and when I saw a new panorama in The Church, it impacted me and made me start asking the Lord: Why did you create me? What is my purpose in life? What is my calling?
AND WHERE DID YOU LOOK FOR SUCCESS?
I always got good grades in school; I had plans to study a career and get ahead as they say.
Fr. Agustino graduated from Seton Hall University with a bachelor’s degree in history, and from St. Joseph Seminary he earned two master’s degrees: in Arts and Theology. In 2008 he was ordained a priest.
WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO FOLLOW THE PATH OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI?
St. Francis of Assisi always had a place for the poor, for the simple and the humble. In my family, my upbringing was quite humble. My parents were peasant workers. And as I always saw the need, St. Francis responded to the need of my soul.
In the 1980s, in addition to extreme poverty and major natural disasters, there were turbulent years in Central America: Civil War in El Salvador and a coup d’état in Honduras, the country to which his community sent him.
I saw that everything that was happening was not right, but I had no answers, and I saw that St. Francis truly found people in their need and with their hearts to God. That was the most appropriate response. That, little by little, formed me, gave me a spirituality and revealed my calling.
Fr. Agustino is the founder of Corazón Puro and Latinos por la Vida. They are two organizations dedicated to awakening and accompanying young leaders in areas of great need. He hosts the EWTN Spanish television show “Clic con Corazón Puro,” as well as in English, following in the footsteps of Father Benedict Groeschel on “Sunday Night Prime.”
Currently, he is presenting a new program “ICONS.” He was one of the friars who founded Catholic Underground, an apostolate of the Friars of the Renewal; Guadalupe House, and JPII (John Paul II) discernment houses for women and men, respectively.
WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT AGUSTINO TORRES THAT CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE, AND ADULTS ADMIRE HIM?
The truth is nothing. I do not have anything. All I do is simply share the message of love, reconciliation, and salvation of Jesus Christ. That draws the attention of young people because there are many who have not known Him. That is sad.
IS IT BECAUSE THEY ARE THIRSTY FOR AUTHENTIC LOVE?
Yeah. They are thirsty, hungry and desperate to hear that message of love in their own language, in their way of expressing themselves. When they hear it, it is as if they are completely new, as if it were the first time, they have heard it.
They have grown up with the prayers of their grandmothers, parents and aunts, but they are always waiting for someone to pour water on them so that the seed of faith that is in them can grow.