New administrator for St. Jude Maronite Parish

Friday, Sep. 12, 2025

TAYLORSVILLE — Father Alejandro Landin, a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, is the new administrator of Saint Jude Maronite Catholic Church in Taylorsville. 

The parish, which is under the Maronite Eparchy of Los Angeles, was founded in 1980 in Murray; it moved to Taylorsville in 2020.

Fr. Landin was ordained to the priesthood on June 2024 at his home parish Our Lady’s Maronite Church in Austin, Texas by the imposition of hands of the Most Reverend Elias Zeidan, Bishop of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, Los Angeles.

While growing up in Corpus Christi, he attended Holy Family Parish until his family moved to Austin for college and work. It was there that he encountered the Maronite Rite, which is an Eastern rite that is in full communion with the pope. It traces its roots back to Saint Maron in the fourth century. Its Divine Liturgy preserves ancient prayers and chants that are in both English and Syriac, a language similar to Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus. 

When he was in his early 20s in Austin, Fr. Alejandro lived across the street from the Maronite Church and “went there to Mass, and I liked it,” he said. “After a few years, I started to discern to the priesthood in the Maronite Church. It was my home; that’s where I grew up spiritually.”

His vocation to the priesthood came from a desire to serve Jesus with everything that he had, he said.

A big influence in his decision was a priest at Our Lady’s Maronite Catholic Church, Chorbishop Don Sawyer. “He was my spiritual director and … he was definitely a father figure,” Fr. Landin said. “He was a big reason that I was drawn into the Maronite Church.”

He discerned his vocation for about two years and decided to attend seminary because “I really felt it in my heart I just wanted to be a Maronite priest,” he said.

After six years in the seminary, he was ordained a deacon and sent to serve in Chihuahua, Mexico, then to Minneapolis, Minn. After ordination to the priesthood, he served in Cleveland, Ohio.

His vocation came from a desire to serve Jesus with everything, and “my love for Jesus Christ and everything continues to grow,” he said. “The motivation to keep ministering to the People of God is that I genuinely get joy out of serving other people in whatever capacity I can.” 

He finds joy in serving people spiritually “by being able to say the Divine Liturgy, the Mass and by facilitating the worship of God,” he said. “I love serving them by being able to offer them the Sacrament of Confession, by having opportunities for them to come and worship God in adoration [and the] rosary.”

Fr. Landin came to St. Jude’s Maronite Catholic Church in Taylorsville following one of his priesthood promises: obedience.

“When you become a priest you surrender your will to the Church,” he said, so “when the Church decides where you have to go, this is art of the obedience of the priesthood. The bishop decided after a year of me being in Cleveland that I should be the administrator in Utah, so here I am.”

The previous pastor of St. Jude’s, Monsignor Joubran Bou Merhi, retired this year after 30 years with the parish. He remains in the diocese and is in residence at Saint Vincent de Paul Parish in Holladay. 

Fr. Landin said he is happy to serve in the Beehive State. He is enjoying it, he said, and asks his new parishioners to be patient with him as he settles in. 

“I am not perfect, but I am really excited to be here, and I really want to get to know all of you,” he said. “I want to be a family supporting each other and being there for each other.”

 Ft. Landin speaks English and some Spanish, though, he said, he is out of practice with Spanish, but “once I can start practicing I will get back into it.”