Bishop Dennis Walsh kneels to receive a blessing from Father Alfonso Pizano Jr. after ordaining the California native to the priesthood June 6 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport.
By Dan Russo
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — After his ordination Mass, a long line formed down the center aisle of Sacred Heart Cathedral as, one by one, people approached Father Alfonso Pizano Jr. Everyone from his closest family members and friends to people he hadn’t even met took turns kneeling while the newest priest in the Davenport Diocese gave his first blessings.
Smiling broadly, the 47-year-old was excited to meet the people he’d be serving. His assignment as parochial vicar of St. Patrick Parish-Iowa City and sacramental minister of St. Joseph Parish-West Liberty and St. Joseph Parish-Columbus Junction will begin July 1.
“(I feel) just complete joy and peace,” reflected the California native June 6 in between blessings. “It’s been a long journey. It’s amazing to see (my family) here.”
Father Pizano’s mother watched her son from a pew close to the steps that lead to the altar. She and the large group of family members that attended the event from out of state were full of pride, but not surprise. As early as age seven, there were indications the boy would grow up to be a priest.
“When my daughter was born, I took (Alfonso) and his brother to Toys R Us and you know what he picked out? A Bible for kids,” said his mom. “I’m just so blessed.”
The priest’s younger sibling, Augustine Pizano, also remembers the incident, recalling that he thought his brother ought to pick something else, like action figures.
“I’m proud of him,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming. My brother’s a very good man. He’s very compassionate.”
Father Pizano’s home parish is St. Gertrude the Great in Bell Gardens, which is part of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He attended Catholic schools there, was an altar server and had interactions with the Salesian sisters.
Alfonso Pizano Sr. gives the most credit to his son’s grandmother for influencing his vocation.
“It was his grandmother’s wish,” said the Pizano patriarch in Spanish. “She prayed for a vocation to the priesthood in the family.”
Pizano Sr. said witnessing the ordination in Davenport “was something beautiful” and his son’s vocation is “a gift from God for the whole family.” Belinda Alcazár, a first cousin who translated for Pizano Sr. and is around the same age as his son, echoed those sentiments
“It’s an absolute honor,” Alcazár said. “I always knew he’d become a priest.”
Priests of the Diocese of Davenport watch as Bishop Dennis Walsh anoints the hands of transitional deacon Alfonso Pizano Jr. with chrism oil during his ordination to the priesthood June 6 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport.
A Laborer Sent
In his homily, Bishop Walsh reminded Father Pizano that the “master of the harvest” had chosen him to be a laborer.
“But as you look out at the harvest field today, the area of your labor, you know as well as I do that the world you are stepping into — the world to which you are being sent is not a pristine field,” said the bishop. “It’s a world that is deeply broken, one that is heavily burdened; a world that is profoundly wounded. And in the Gospel, before Jesus sends out his disciples, something vital happens within him. Matthew tells us that when Jesus saw the crowds, Matthew says, ‘He had compassion for them because they were troubled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd.’ Alfonso, this is where your priesthood must begin every single day, with the eyes and the heart of Christ — to be able to see the brokenness of the world and to suffer with it; to have compassion for the world.”
It took many years and there were many twists and turns in Father Pizano’s road to ordination. He first came to the Midwest from Los Angeles to discern a call to the priesthood with the Priests of the Sacred Heart. He studied at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology (in Hales Corners, Wisconsin), where he first met Diocese of Davenport seminarians who were also studying there.
Father Pizano originally began discerning his vocation in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. He earned a BA in education. He taught in Catholic Schools before returning to the seminary. Later, he spent time with the Jesuits and completed an MA in elementary education from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He also completed coursework toward an MA in philosophy at Fordham University in New York. Deacon Pizano took leave from the Jesuits and later resumed discernment in religious life with the Priests of the Sacred Heart. Later, he felt called to the diocesan priesthood and followed that path. He arrived in the Diocese of Davenport in 2023 and took a transformative pastoral year at Divine Mercy Parish in Burlington/West Burlington. He also taught Spanish at Notre Dame High School in Burlington. He then continued studies at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology. On Aug. 2, 2025, he was ordained a transitional deacon by Bishop Walsh at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Deacon Pizano then served at St. Charles Borromeo and St. Roman parishes in Milwaukee for his preaching placement as a transitional deacon.
Not His Own
Bishop Walsh referenced Pope Francis’ teaching from his apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel and his encyclical Fratelli tutti when giving the new priest guidance on being a shepherd “who must have the odor of the sheep.”
“You are called to be the one who stops, who binds up the wounds; pours oil, gives consolation, gives hope and carries the broken to the field hospital that Francis calls the Church,” said Bishop Walsh. “To do this, you will soon stand before me and the whole Church to make your ordination promises. You will promise to live the priesthood as a fellow worker with me. You will promise to preach the Gospel throughout the whole local Church and throughout the world. You will promise to celebrate the mysteries of Christ faithfully. The promises you make are not just professional duties and obligations. They are a complete surrendering of your life to Christ.”
The bishop also talked about the teaching of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, who will be beatified Sept. 24, when reflecting on the calling of a priest for Father Pizano. He said a priest is “an instrument through which Christ transforms the world.”
“Archbishop Sheen argued that Jesus wasn’t just a priest who offered a sacrifice,” Bishop Walsh said. “He was the victim who was offered. To be a priest after the heart of Jesus means you can’t just be a dispenser of sacraments. That is, you’re just not doing functions in the Church. A priest must always be willing to be the victim. He writes famously the line that ‘the priest is not his own.’ He is a tool of Christ. He must realize that he is the priest-victim. He is to offer Christ and he is to offer himself to Christ, with Christ. Alfonso, when you stand at the altar and say, ‘this is my body and this is my blood’ you are speaking in the person of Christ, but you are also pointing to yourself. You are telling the people of God, ‘I offer everything to you — my health, my time, my intellect, my heart, even broken, for you. This is my blood. My preferences, my comfort, my sleep — poured out so that you might live.’ You are a living reminder of the person of Jesus Christ. This kind of sacrificial priesthood isn’t a relic of the past. It is alive and it is desperately needed today.”
(Anne Marie Amacher, assistant editor, contributed to this article.)
