As we look toward the priestly ordinations on June 1, my thoughts turn toward all those I have ordained to the priesthood since I have been the Bishop of Brooklyn. I have been fortunate to be able to impose hands on 88 men for the service of the faithful of Brooklyn and Queens.
ACCOMPANYING MY mother to the public market in Haiti one day when I was eight years old, I saw a man wearing a cassock crossing the street.
Last week, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released an article in L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican City-State’s official newspaper, stating once again that the ordination to the ministerial priesthood is reserved to men.
A vocation is, like all graces, divinely initiated and totally unmerited. But as incarnate beings, vocations come to women and men in particular circumstances.
I take my cue from our Holy Father, Pope Francis, who over the years of his Pontificate has annunciated what we might call the “Seven Pillars” on which the priesthood depends if it will faithfully and fruitfully serve God’s people.
More often than not, that was the response I got when telling someone I was studying to be a Catholic priest. It was usually followed with, “You’re gonna be very lonely and miserable.”
At this very moment, I am penning this article from the city of Jerusalem. I, along with two other priests, and 40 pilgrims from the Diocese of Brooklyn are walking in the footsteps of our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ through the cities of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem.
Where have my five years of priesthood gone? I always saw myself as a “baby priest,” but the reality is quickly fading away as 50 of my younger brothers have been ordained after me.
Scenes from the ordinations of priests celebrated by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio at St. Joseph’s Co Cathedral, Prospect Heights, on June 3.
Catholic news media might be the remedy for three of the greatest challenges facing the church in the United States today, according to a leading Catholic journalist who spoke at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in suburban Philadelphia.
