Cosmetics company co-founder ordained in CA; his home church will be in Clovis
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- Borba was ordained in Visalia a month before his 53rd birthday.
- Brennan assigned Father Scott Borba to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Clovis.
- Borba resigned from business in 2021 and graduated from St. Patrick’s Seminary.
Scott Vincent Borba, the former co-founder of Oakland-based e.l.f. Cosmetics, was all smiles Saturday after becoming a Catholic priest during a bilingual priesthood ordination Mass in his hometown of Visalia.
Borba, 52, was ordained with deacons Marco Antonio Ayala Rodriguez and Jose Francisco Orozco Cardenas by Bishop Joseph V. Brennan at St. Charles Borromeo Church. The church, which is the largest Catholic parish church in the United States seating up to 3,200 worshippers, was at capacity with some driving from different cities in the area.
“We have some fine young men here. Deacons Francisco, Scott and Marco, about to be ordained to the Order of the Priesthood, and such a beautiful reminder of what a gift they will be and are to the Diocese of Fresno and what a gift the priesthood is to the whole church,” Brennan said during the service.
After ordination, Brennan assigned the three newest priests in the Diocese to various parishes in the Central Valley starting their appointments as parochial vicars June 27.
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Each vicar was assigned to a specific parish: Father Scott Borba to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Clovis, Father Marco Ayala to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Bakersfield, California and Father Francisco Orozco to The Shrine of St Therese in Fresno.
The appointments include all faculties, duties, rights, and privileges as per canon law, diocesan statutes, and customs, and can be revoked by the Bishop or his successor.
After their ordination, Borba, Ayala and Orozco gave their first blessings to many of the worshippers in attendance.
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Ofelia Saludares, a 73-year-old Catholic from Fresno, attended the ordination ceremony to witness the ordination of the priests, an experience she had never had before.
Saludares said she and her husband didn’t mind the 45-minute drive to Visalia to support the newly ordained priests.
“We are happy for these young men. And as we pray for an increase in our vocations, this is the answer to our prayers,” Saludares said.
From beauty mogul to priesthood
Borba’s ordination, attended by his family, took place a month before his 53rd birthday on June 23.
The former esthetician, model, singer and actor resigned from his business ventures in 2021 and became a seminarian at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, where he studied and graduated.
Born and raised in Visalia, the youngest of five siblings, Borba completed high school and junior college in his hometown before earning his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Santa Clara University. He later moved to Los Angeles, where he started his company.
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Borba decided he wanted to become a priest in his 40s and came back to Fresno to start the process, according to the diocese. His unique background and conversion story received a lot of media attention in the weeks and days prior to his ordination.
Borba told news outlets that after living as “a poster boy for luxury living” he lives a life opposite to that, with the bare minimum. He gave away his fortune to charity.
On average, it takes about seven years to become a priest, and the average age for new priests is 30, according to the Diocese of Fresno.
According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 3% of the current class of 2026 seminarians are 51 or older.
Diocese spokesperson Chandler Marquez said Borba won’t be the oldest priest ordained in the Fresno Dioceses. Two summers ago, a priest was ordained in his 70s, he said.
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