The new pastor is Rev. Lorenzo Ato.  He will begin his ministry here at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on July 1^st. He also serves as the Director of Hispanic Communications and Pastoral Ministries in the Office of Hispanic Ministry at the Archdiocese of New York.

Father Lorenzo Ato was born in Peru and in 1986 he was educated in Communications, Sacred Theology, Philosophy, and Faculty of Theology from the Pontifical and Civil University in Lima, Peru.  Father Ato was ordained as a Catholic Priest in February of 1988 at Saint Rose of Lima in Peru.

Father Ato has received two Masters in Religious Education from Fordham University in New York and he continued his education in ESL Studies at Paterson Community College in New Jersey.

Father Ato's first assignment was at Saint John's Cathedral in Paterson, New Jersey and in 1991 he was transferred to Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic Church in New York.  In 1997, he served as the Coordinator for Pastoral Ministries at Saint Rose of Lima Church in New York and in the same year he became Pastor of Saint Thomas Aquinas Church in the Bronx.  In 2003, Father Ato was appointed Administrator of the Churches of Saint Emeric and Saint Brigid until June 2021.

Recently, Father Ato serves as the coordinator of the Hispanic Visiting Bishops who celebrate the Hispanic Masses at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, as a member of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Advisory Council for Hispanic Ministry, and Chaplain to seven (7) Hispanic Committees.

Since his arrival to New York City, Father Lorenzo Ato has dedicated his life to Hispanic Catholic Communications in radio and television.  Father Ato continues to inspire the Hispanic Catholic community with his weekly radio talk show, Hora Catolica (Sundays 8:00 a.m. Radio WADO 1280 AM) and his televised Mass production, Misa Del Domingo (Sundays 6:30 a.m. Univision WXTV-TV).

Father Lorenzo Ato also serves as a Hispanic columnist for Catholic New York and he is an author of a book titled "Al Encuentro de Jesus," where he shares a collection of his columns which appeared in Catholic New York from November 2005-December 2009.

Please give Fr. Ato a warm welcome and let’s keep him in our prayers as he begins his new Journey with Sacred Heart of Jesus.