Oakland Cathedral leader's faith journey 'struck by Pope Leo XIV himself'

Chills moved up and down the spine of so many people, especially Catholics, when they realized that someone they've met has become the first American pope.

Mark Diamond, now a business manager for the Cathedral of Christ the Light, stands among them, but his encounter with Pope Leo XIV reached a greater plateau of meaning.

“Who would have thought that I'd be giving the future pope, not the gifts, but the host?” said Diamond, who was an Augustinian novitiate in January 2014 when he experienced the now-Holy Father up-close during his last Mass in his hometown of Chicago before being named a bishop in Peru.

“I mean, talk about the vessel between God and creation.”

The man formerly known as Cardinal Robert Prevost, often lovingly referred-to as Bob, was the prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine when he shared Mass in Chicago on a chilly, snowy January night at St. Rita's High School, a 25-minute drive from downtown Chicago.

“I was in the Augustinian novitiate in Racine, Wis. at St. Rita Parish and our House of Studies, the Order's House of Studies, which Bob was there for as director of formation,” he said.

As someone discerning the Augustinian priesthood at the time, the chance to encounter such a key leader of his order drove him to make the two-hour journey south in a snowstorm and use the rare opportunity to leave the parish grounds a half hour south of Milwaukee.

“I was the one who drove the van in Chicago. And again, in the novitiate, we're technically supposed to be locked away, right? There's strict canon law,” he said. “But during Christmas, when the theologate would let out, we went down.”

To Mark, it was worth the dangerous drive.

“We all knew that he was in waiting to be a bishop. It was always the coffee talk, the cooler talk.”

Such buzz came from the realization that the man who would become Pope Leo XIV was made for a role of high responsibility within the Catholic faith.

“He has whatever it is. You can see it,” said Diamond.

“Even Cardinal (Francis) George made it out to pay his respects,” he added, as the cardinal was three months away from death. “That was really powerful.”

The cardinal, and most people who were there, got to take in the charism of the now-Holy Father during the Mass, one where it was readily apparent

“It's community-based. It's friendship. It's one mind, one heart and the pursuit of God. That's the son of Augustine,” said Diamond.

“I was really impressed with his levelheadedness, his even-keeledness, the way that we used to joke in a loving way that he really doesn't show his teeth when he smiles, that poise, that composure. He was the star of the show.”

A friend of Diamond quipped at the time that the visiting priest was destined for a much bigger responsibility than a diocese of a city slightly larger than Oakland.

“One friar joked 'Boy, that's a that's a real shame. What a waste that he was going to Peru. You know, this guy should be in New York City. He should be a big-time bishop,'” Diamond recounted.

Little did his friend, the friar, know at the time how big a bishop role Pope Leo XIV would receive.

That's what made Thursday, May 8 so shocking to Diamond and so many others within the church.

“I wake up and it's 8 a.m. and I'm kind of groggy, and then I see the white smoke and I snap out of it. I'm like, 'Wow. That was quick,'” said Diamond, who had to stay home that day due to a building repair at his residence here in Oakland.

“I jumped up and down and I couldn't believe it. I'm like, 'There's Bob! Look at Bob!' You're proud of the order. You're proud to be Catholic. It certainly reinvigorated something in me. I don't know quite what it is. I'm still trying to process it, but it was just euphoria.”

Reflection time has allowed Diamond to return to that day 11 years ago in snow-blanketed Chicago, when he saw what the conclave of cardinals saw in the new-Holy Father.

“As a young friar in training, you could see that the guy has it. And then to have the cardinals agree with that -- the most diverse group of cardinals from 70 countries to agree with that in two days -- is just such a testament to what Bob is and what he's achieved,” Diamond said.

“He's of Augustine. He's a son of Augustine."