The Pastors at St. Rita Catholic Church
Rev. Dayan Machado was born in San Antonio de los Baños, Province of La Habana, Cuba. His school years in the Island exposed him to Marxist philosophy and to experience Communist political and educational systems. He came to the USA in April of 1999 where he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Tampa, Florida. He then entered St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami to discern the call to the Catholic priesthood. He attended St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida and was ordained priest of the Diocese of St. Petersburg by his Excellency Most Rev. Robert N. Lynch on May 15th 2010. His previous pastoral assignments have been: Parochial Vicar at St. Lawrence Church, Tampa; Parochial Vicar at St. Clement Church, Plant City.
Father Carlos Joel Borgos was born in Havana, Cuba on April 20, 1977 where he completed his studies from elementary to pre-university at the age of 20. He prepared for eight years to become a priest at the San Carlos and San Ambrosio Seminary in Havana where he was ordained on June 29, 2005 in the Cathedral of Havana by Cardinal Jaime L. Ortega. Since then he has served as parish priest in different parishes in the Havana diocese, also acted as head of catechesis and advisor to the youth ministry of the diocese. He arrived in the U.S. in November of 2015 and January of 2016 where he began to reside in the rectory of St. Joseph in Tampa and lived there for one year and six months, working in the pastoral needs of the parish and studying English.