Inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola, Father Bayta gives will to God
Father Joker Bayta said the perfect combination of elements helped influence him to become a priest 25 years ago.
“There were lots of things that contributed to my vocation to the priesthood,” he said. “I was in the right environment.”
The jubilarian cited his parents, his grandmother and a Catholic education.
“My grandmother would always tell my father to ask me and say something like, ‘Oh, your grandma is asking if you would want to become a priest,’” Father Bayta recalled.
He had a cousin who took the entrance exam for the seminary, but he did not pursue his vocation to the priesthood.
“But because of that, maybe my grandmother was thinking I could be a replacement for my cousin,” Father Bayta said with a laugh.
Father Bayta said that his Catholic education had a significant influence on his vocation. He attended Mass each Sunday because at school the following week, the Gospel and homily would be discussed.
The school was adjacent to the church and rectory, so as a child, Father Bayta and his friends played volleyball with the priests assigned in the parish.
“Slowly I was introduced to the life of a priest,” he said.
Despite attending Catholic school, Father Bayta said during his school years, the priesthood was “off my radar.”
After high school, however, the priest thought of the conversation he had had with his father and decided to take the entrance exam for the seminary.
“I told myself if I like it in the seminary, I will continue; if I don’t like it, then I will just go out,” he said. “But what happened was I enjoyed being in the seminary. We did everything together. We lived as a community, and I loved it. We studied, we played, we prayed, we worked. We did things together, so that made me want to stay.”
Father Bayta was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Caceres, Philippines, on Aug. 31, 1996, and served at two remote parishes.
Asked to serve in Richmond
In his 17th year of priesthood, Father Bayta received a call from his vicar general, who said the archbishop wanted to send Father Bayta to the United States. He asked if the priest would like to serve there.
“I did not think, I just said, ‘Yes, I would like to go there,’” Father Bayta said.
He came to the Diocese of Richmond in 2013 and served as a parochial vicar of St. Edward the Confessor, Richmond, for one year. He became pastor of St. Jerome, Newport News, in 2014. He has served as pastor of St. Peter the Apostle, Lake Gaston, and St. Richard, Emporia, since 2016.
Father Bayta will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at his parish on Tuesday, Aug. 31, to mark his jubilee. A reception with members of the parish will follow.
On the invitation marking his silver jubilee, Father Bayta included the Suscipe Prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
“That is one of the things that is guiding me in my priesthood: ‘Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will’ and so on,” he said.
The priest developed a connection with St. Ignatius in the school he attended as a child, the Ateneo, which is run by the Jesuits.
While in seminary, he asked an American Jesuit, Father Dolan, to be his spiritual director.
“He was a very good priest, and he devoted all his life teaching in the seminary and teaching in the school,” Father Bayta said.
‘Happy to help’
Father Bayta’s favorite thing about being a priest is helping people.
“I am able to help somebody, whether because of my homily or because of my conversation with a person. If I am able to help, I am happy with that. I think that is the purpose of my life — to help somebody,” he said.
Father Bayta said although he considers his vocation “a gift from God” for which he is very thankful, “priesthood is not easy.”
“I know the feeling of being uprooted from familiar soil and then being planted and forced to bloom in another garden away from home. There were struggles, but the good thing is I did not give up. I know the feeling of isolation, the feeling of frustration. These feelings are not alien to me,” he said. “But those are the difficulties of priesthood.”
When Father Bayta experiences a challenge in his vocation, he knows that he can share his struggle with his brother priests.
“They are the ones who can understand me,” he said. “I know that happy priesthood demands holy friendship.”
Supported by prayer
Father Bayta said his brother priests are just one of the blessings that have filled his vocation.
“First, I have the assurance that God loves me; that is one thing that keeps me going,” he said. “Then there is my prayer life. I keep my spiritual life through that, and my personal prayer invigorates my priesthood.”
The rosary also strengthens Father Bayta’s prayer life.
“I come from a very Catholic family. We prayed the rosary every evening, and that’s a big thing for me,” he said. “I still pray the rosary every day, every 6 o’clock in the evening.”
Father Bayta said that people praying for him – his mother, his family, his friends – continues to sustain him as he celebrates his jubilee.
“They support me. They pray for me,” he said. “It lifts my energy to continue. They are God’s gift to me.”