‘A whole new world opened up’
Deacon Eduardo Bernal is shown in his office with his daughter, Mónica Bernal-Arroy. His plans to be a missionary took on a new direction when he met his future wife.CHARLOTTE — From a young age, Deacon Eduardo Bernal had a missionary heart, although he never imagined the paths God had prepared for him.
In 1990, when he emigrated from El Salvador to Glen Cove, New York, as a young adult,he felt called to serve those most in need.
“I’m not an office person; I belong in the streets, serving among the people,” Deacon Bernal said.
While serving as a missionary at St. Patrick’s Parish in Glen Cove alongside Vincentian priests and seminarians, he began to feel drawn to being a deacon.
“Without really knowing why, the diaconate caught my attention from a young age,” he recalled.
In 2000, he arrived in the Diocese of Charlotte to work in Hispanic Ministry, thanks to Vincentian Father Vincent Finnerty, who at the time directed the ministry under then-Bishop William Curlin.
He first served for eight months in the Winston-Salem Vicariate and then spent 15 years coordinating communities in western North Carolina, including the Smoky Mountains and Asheville vicariates. There, he fully lived the missionary experience he had long desired, helping communities without nearby parishes and accompanying immigrants through transitions.
“When I arrived, there was only one parish with (a Spanish) Mass,” Bernal said. “There was a great deal of need, and I truly lived a complete missionary experience.”
In 2004, having reached the required age to enter seminary, he began his formation. However, in 2010, with only one year left before ordination, he discovered that God had other plans for him: marriage.
“I realized that my plans, although good, were not God’s plans,” he said.
He decided to discern his vocation to marriage alongside Brenda, whom he had met years earlier in Winston-Salem. He explains that his deacon formation helped him recognize personal barriers that had prevented him from considering that possibility.
“My plan was to be ordained and then go as a missionary to another part of the world, but marriage was never part of my plan,” he said.
After marrying and starting a family with the birth of their daughter, Mónica Bernal-Arroyo, he said his faith and trust in God grew even stronger.
“I used to live only to work and sleep. When I got married, my life changed,” he explained.
In 2015, he resumed his preparation to become a deacon – this time with the full support of his wife, which also strengthened his spiritual life.
On Sept. 25, 2021, he was ordained a permanent deacon by then-Bishop Peter Jugis. He describes the moment as a turning point in his life: “As I walked out of St. Mark’s Church, newly ordained, a couple from Guadalupe approached me asking for a blessing. I froze with emotion,” he recalled. “In that first month, the one who had been invisible became visible.”
Five years later, Deacon Bernal continues his missionary-inspired work at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, where he still sees great needs within the local Hispanic community.
He said he feels closer than ever to the faithful and he is grateful for the trust of those who come to share personal aspects of their lives with him. He also hopes to inspire other men to discern a vocation as a deacon.
“Through the diaconate, I came to know a new face of the Church, even after many years of service,” Deacon Bernal said. “A whole new world opened up for me.”
— Brian Segovia
