DOVER At times, Catholics want to receive Holy Communion but run into a serious impediment. Sometimes, it’s physical, such as being too ill. Sometimes, it’s canonical, such as having been remarried after a divorce without an annulment. This year, Father Manuel de Jesus Guevara, a diocesan priest, finished the thesis for his newly-completed doctorate in canon law that gives priests and laity suggestions for ways to administer the Eucharist in these difficult situations — or to find an alternative.
On Sept. 20, Father Guevara, administrator of Sacred Heart/Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Dover, received his doctorate from the Pontifical University of Salamanca in Spain. His studies concluded this summer with his defending the research and conclusions of his 376-page thesis, titled “The Necessity of Holy Communion: Pastoral and Canonical Implications,” in front of five judges with doctorates at the university. It took Father Guevara three years to research and write in Spanish in a more proper, academic style, which took him more time, he said. He soon will begin work as the first Spanish-speaker to serve the Diocesan Tribunal.
Father Guevara’s research took him to many countries around the world, including Greece, France, Spain, and Italy to Rome to the Vatican’s library, and the United States at The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C. An international traveler even before his doctoral studies, he is a native of Nicaragua and arrived in the U.S. in 2005. For his research, Father Guevara also spoke to many academics and priests, many of whom have first-hand experience of some of the challenges of dispensing the Eucharist, he said.
“I am pleased that I have completed my doctorate after those long years of work,” Father Guevara, 37, said. “I hope that my research and conclusions help priests and laity in our Diocese and all over the world,” he said.
In his dissertation, Father Guevara gave many examples of priests or lay people not being able to administer Holy Communion, such as a person in a hospital, who is hooked up to tubes that prevent access to his or her mouth. In its place, a priest can offer to preside over Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in front of the patient as a “spiritual aid.” Father Guevara’s research also examined the history of dispensing Holy Communion. He learned many interesting facts, such as bishops in the first and second centuries who consecrated bread at Sunday Masses and allowed the faithful to bring it home. Every day, they would take a piece of the bread for “spiritual strength,” he said.
In 2013, Bishop Serratelli assigned Father Guevara to canon law studies at CUA, where he received his licentiate in canon law in 2015. Originally, the Bishop wanted the priest to continue his canon law studies at Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome but the priest discovered that it was too late to apply. So he applied to — and gained admission to — the University of Salamanca. He traveled back and forth from Spain to Diocese. Father Guevara lived at St. Stephen Parish in Paterson while not in Spain, he said.
Through the research and writing process, Father Francisco Campos, a professor at the Pontifical University of Salamanca and a judge, guided Father Guevara and worked with him for three days to prepare for his defense of his thesis with possible questions and answers in front of the panel of academics, he said.
“When I got up there to give my opening 30-minute exposition, I was so nervous; I felt terrible. I had to prove my methods and ideas in the thesis,” said Father Guevara, who was accompanied that day by his family. “At the end, when the presider of the panel told me that I had passed, I felt so light and happy. I couldn’t believe that I now had the title of ‘doctor,’ ” he said.
Afterward, Father Guevara gave a copy of his thesis to Bishop Serratelli, a former seminary professor and rector. In the future, the priest hopes to get the entire thesis published as well as parts of it in pamphlet form in English, Spanish and Polish. Three weeks ago, Father Guevara already started research on a new project: a book about the Church’s teachings about cremation and its pastoral implications, he said.
It was Bishop Serratelli who ordained Father Guevara to the priesthood on June 19, 2010. Born and raised in Nicaragua, he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the Catholic College there in 2002, and completed three years of priestly study at the major seminary in Managua, capital of the Central American nation.
After finishing studies at the minor seminary, Father Guevara talked with Redemptorist Father Terrence Moran, former diocesan consultant for Ministry among Hispanics, whom he had met, and Father Odel Medina, former diocesan Migrant Ministry director and fellow countryman, whom he already knew. They both encouraged him to apply to Paterson, where he arrived in 2005.
Father Guevara has pastoral experience in the Paterson Diocese at St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Passaic; the former Beth Israel Medical Center, Passaic, assisting the Catholic chaplain; St. Joseph Parish, West Milford; St. Catherine of Bologna Parish, Ringwood, and Holy Family Parish, Florham Park.
As a priest, he also served as a parochial vicar at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Paterson, and as a part-time assistant at the diocesan Tribunal Office, while studying at CUA. He was named administrator of Sacred Heart/Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary in May.
“The Diocese is happy that another priest put in the time to earn his doctorate and that Father Guevara will be working in the Tribunal as a Spanish-speaker,” Bishop Serratelli said.