When Father Januarius Rodrigues was ordained a priest 45 years ago, he saw in his vocation an opportunity to be a channel to bring people closer to God.

For 32 years, that work has been accomplished in the Diocese of Sacramento, in parish communities and behind prison walls to a far different community than any he had ever known.

On Jan. 31, Father Rodrigues, 75, retired from ministry at St. Anne Parish in Sacramento, where he served as pastor for the past 11 years.

Born in Goa, an area located in southwest India, Father Rodrigues was raised in a devout Portuguese family.

As a young man he found his calling to the priesthood in a verse from the Gospel of Matthew, 28:19.

“I was fascinated with the words ‘go out and teach all nations,’ and that is what I have done,” Father Rodrigues said.

He spent his first 14 years of service as a parish priest in India and Argentina prior to his arrival in the diocese in 1973.

Father Rodrigues’ first assignment in the diocese was as parochial administrator of St. Francis Parish in Burney.

Other assignments followed in which he was appointed parochial administrator of St. Thomas More Parish in Paradise, Holy Rosary Parish in Woodland, St. John Vianney Parish in Rancho Cordova, St. Rose of Lima Parish in Roseville, and St. Robert Parish in Sacramento.

It was during his assignment at Holy Rosary Parish where he met his good friend, Father Anthony Maio, who was pastor there at the time.

“We got along very well,” said Father Maio, now retired, who described Father Rodrigues as “a very scholarly, informed priest” whose ability to speak several languages including Spanish was a blessing in the richly diverse Woodland parish.

“We didn’t have many foreign priests (in the diocese) at the time and he worked his way through that,” Father Maio said. “He survived skepticism and attended to his duties very well.”

Father Rodrigues said the most important attribute of any priest is to be “a man of prayer…always in the presence of God.”

“A priest must be able to be with people, be able to pray with people and teach them the way to salvation,” he said.

An assignment which Father Rodrigues describes as “the best years of my priestly life” took him inside California State Prison, Solano, in Vacaville, where he served as chaplain from 1985 to 1993.

At the request of the then-Gov. George Deukmejian, Father Rodrigues started an offender-victim program in 1988 which had been mandated by a state task force.

The pilot project, named the Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program, allows crime victims to have face to face encounters with inmates.

“When they came to me I said yes,” Father Rodrigues said. “Having been in the business of reconciliation for 28 years, I thought it could be done.”

Father Innocent Emechete, currently chaplain at California Medical Facility in Vacaville, remembers observing the program while he was serving as parochial vicar at St. Anthony Parish in Winters.

He said the program was a powerful reconciliation experience that began the healing process for both criminals and victims.

“The inmates started to come to the realization of the pain they had inflicted on families, and families started understanding some problems inmates had,” Father Emechete said. “It frees inmates to mellow and understand and own up to what they’ve done.”

In July 1993 Father Rodrigues was one of five people named to receive the Doris G. Tate Award from then-Gov. Pete Wilson.

The award honoring victims’ advocacy work was named after the late Doris Tate, whose daughter Sharon Tate was murdered by members of the Charles Manson family in 1969.

Among other honors received by Father Rodrigues for his work was a request by the American University in Washington, D.C. in 1991 to present a paper on victims’ advocacy in corrections at an international conference at the University of Health Sciences, Antigua in Spain.

St. Anne Parish, where Father Rodrigues has served as pastor since 1994, has taken a special place in his heart as well.

“St. Anne’s is a simple community of working people — people devoted to the church and very humble. They pray hard,” he said.

One who knows the impact of the retiring priest’s presence in the parish community is secretary Mila Green.

“He had an open door policy and people felt they could come to the church whenever they felt like it,” Green said. “He is a very straightforward man who has a big heart.”

June Cruz-Tajalle, religious education coordinator at St. Anne, said Father Rodrigues has provided considerable support in facilitating lay ministers involved in the religious education program in English, while Gloria Mirazo coordinates the Spanish religious education program.

“Whatever we plan he fits into his schedule,” said Cruz-Tajalle, who appreciated the priest “popping in” to observe religious education classes. “He was always willing to lend a hand in helping people and I respect him for that.”

The priest Theresa Day has come to know has gone out of his way to be present at two hallmark events in her life, times of celebrations and of sadness.

Day, who is president of the St. Anne altar society, remembers fondly the thoughtfulness of her pastor, who drove all the way to Orland to be present for her mother’s funeral Mass. “That made him close to my heart,” Day said.

While officially retired, Father Rodrigues has accepted a temporary assignment as parochial administrator pro tem of St. Elizabeth Parish in Sacramento.

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