Father Ricardo Rivera Ortiz of Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, stole the show a week ago, when he joined the cheerleading team in their routine during the homecoming dance performance.
The man, who works as a priest at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was present at his school’s homecoming dance performance that took place at the school’s basketball court. Halfway through the performance, and when the cheerleaders are all bowing, he starts approaching them. At that point, nothing hints to what is going to follow. The priest is clad in his black priest robe and wears his collar, so this mere move towards the dancing team looks a bit off.
Then he stretches his arms open and, suddenly, with a professional dancer’s move, he turns around to face the crowd, who by then is speechless. What follows nobody would have guessed.
The priest starts performing the routine of the cheerleaders, without even looking at them- it’s as if he had been practicing the steps with them for long. Father Ricardo nails all the difficult dance moves and all the viewers can hear is an uproar from the crowd, who is applauding! The show ends in a glorious way with the priest closing the performance “like a pro”, and then all you can hear is applause and cheering.
Father Ricardo Rivera Ortiz was born in Adjuntas, south of the island of Puerto Rico, in a large family of three brothers and two sisters, and was ordained a priest on May 17, 2019, in the Piarist parish of the Annunciation, in Manhattan, New York.
The video of the priest dancing along with his students was shared on Twitter and soon went viral across the country. It was received with enthusiasm and people all around the country left their positive comments and words of love below the post. This caused the reaction of Father Ricardo himself on social media.
In his Facebook post, he thanked everyone who had something positive to say. He explained that the Order of the Priarists, to which he belongs, is dedicated to the service of integral education of children and young people, and that this is what he is trying to do through his preaching and teaching.
“I understand that my intervention with my students has caused the positive reaction of many. Some media have even contacted me to share my experience. In this way, I communicate to everyone and share that my intention with dancing was to live the missionary spirit of going to my students to make Jesus present in their lives.”
This post of his, too, was welcomed by the people, who wished the priest the best and encouraged him to continue with his mission.
This was only one example out of the many that have existed during the last few years, showing that priests can and do have a sense of humor and many of them are indeed close to the new generation, preaching and teaching them in the way that they learn- be it through social media, dance or sports.
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