Tag: priest

New Fraternity of St Charles priests and deacons

ordination San Carlo.jpgTremendous joy exists when a man is ordained for the service of Christ and the Church.

Let’s live ”the glory and joy of the priesthood in the service of Christ and His Mystical Body’ in the communal life ‘experiencing the help of Christ in our existence, calling all the brothers to a continual configuration that is always more profound to you your person.”
Saturday, June 25, was a day of joy for 8 religious men of the Fraternity of Saint Charles Borromeo were ordained priests and deacons by His Excellency, Archbishop Rino Fiscihella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. Monsignor Massimo Camisasca, founder and Superior General of the Fraternity presented his spiritual sons and brothers for the Lord’s service. 

The Fraternity now has 2 new priests (Patricio Hacin and Christoph Matyssek) and 6 deacons (Emmanuele Angiola, Diego García Terán, Simone Gulmini, Tommaso Pedroli, Ruben Roncolato & Luca  Speziale).
Here’s the vocation narrative of the new priests, Don Patricio and Don Christoph.
Father Julián Carrón’s letter to the newly ordained: Fr Carron’s Letter to the newly ordained 2011.pdf

John Corapi takes a break from priesthood

Fr J Corapi.jpgIn the past days the story of Father John Corapi’s taking a break from the Catholic priesthood has been circulating. In the meantime, read the current news of Father Corapi, 64, on his blog, The Black Sheep Dog.

Distressing indeed and a situation that requires guidance from the Holy Spirit. So, pray to Saints Padre Pio and John Neumann and John Mary Vianney for their intercession.
Corapi’s account of the situation and the process of investigation for innocence (or guilt) is too problematic. The problem with the case is not with Father Corapi –yet there are questions that persist– but in the process of coming to truth. Or so it seems.
May the Most Trinity, shower grace on us.
UPDATE: read “Father Corapi’s Bombshell” by Joan Frawley Desmond
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Good Shepherd Sunday: which are the authoritative voices that guide you?

Christ the Good Shepherd BE Murrilo.jpgGood Shepherd Sunday, the Fourth Sunday following the great feast of Easter, is celebrated today by the Church. Today is a day in we all focus on the tenderness of the Lord and smoothing quality of his voice gently calling us to deeper and fuller communio with him. The Fourth Sunday of Easter is the day in which the Holy Father draws our attention to vocations in the Church (priest, brother, sister, nun, deacon, perhaps consecrated lay person) for one’s salvation but also for the glory of God in the proclamation of the Gospel and in the iconic life of a Catholic in the sacraments. As Blessed John Paul said in Pastor Bonus, “the task of its [the Church’s] shepherd of pastors was indeed to be that service ‘which is called very expressly in Sacred Scripture a diaconia or ministry'” (1). Benedict’s message for the 48th World Day of Prayer for Vocations can be read here.

Continue reading Good Shepherd Sunday: which are the authoritative voices that guide you?

David Toups, priest, focused on the real nature of priesthood

Toups.jpgThe Florida priest, Father David Toups, is doing what he’s been called to do: to be a faithful priest proclaiming the Presence of Christ through preaching the Gospel, praying the Mass, administering the sacraments and being an authentic father of souls. A recent article makes the case.

In his backyard one can’t avoid the scandalous behavior of the now former Catholic priest and media personality, Albert Cutié, when talking about the meaning and ministry of a Catholic priest.

Legion of Christ ordains 61 priests

Legion of Christ ordination 2010.jpgOn Christmas eve morning, Cardinal Valasio De Paolis, CS, the pontifical delegate for the Legion of Christ, ordained 61 new priests on Christmas eve at Saint Paul outside the Walls. The Most Reverends Brian Farrell, LC and Paolo Schiavon, respectively from the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity and auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rome, concelebrated. 

Among the 61 ordained 7 from the USA, 3 from Canada and 28 from Mexico.
Priestly ordinations in the Legion of Christ typically happen on Christmas eve so that on Christmas day the newly ordained priest celebrates his first Mass of Thanksgiving on the great feast of the Incarnation.

The Legion of Christ’s news on the ordinations is here.
Here’s the story on Rome Reports

Catholic reform of priesthood called by Vatican official Mauro Piacenza

MPiacenza.jpegMauro Cardinal Piacenza, Prefect of the Congregation of Clergy, is focusing on the life of the priest and how the Catholic priest lives the vocation given to him by the Holy Spirit. Piacenza is doing all he can to strengthen priesthood in all its vigor and beauty. In the style and content of Benedict XVI, Piacenza is calling for a Catholic reform of the priesthood, a reform that returns to the source. He said, 

I think it’s a big task that I do no hesitate to define reform. But reform in the Catholic sense of the word, which is to get as close as possible to the source, close to the Heart of Jesus, which is the mystery of the priesthood. Therefore, they must take care of the relationship with God.

27 Holy Apostles Seminarians take steps toward priesthood

Jesus says to his disciples, ask the Lord to send workers into his harvest (MT 9:38).

Bp Cote.jpg

Earlier today I attended the Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated by His Excellency, the Most Reverend Michael R. Cote, Bishop of Norwich and Chancellor of Holy Apostles Seminary (Cromwell, CT),  where he also instituted 27 seminarians in the ministries of Lector and Acolyte. These men of various ages, life experience and affiliation, are preparing for service as priests.
This was the first time these rites were performed in the new seminary chapel.

These rites are minor, but essential in the life Church as she prepares men for service as priests. All of these men have been reading the sacred Scripture at Mass and serving and bringing Holy Communion to the people. But now, they are more official in their service for without these rites they can’t be advanced to the Order of Deacon.
The Church commissions those instituted as lector with these words:
Take this book of Holy Scripture and be faithful in handing on the Word of God, so that it may grow strong in the hearts of His people.
And, for those instituted as acolytes:
Take these vessels with bread and wine for the celebration of the Eucharist. Make your life worthy of your service at the table of the Lord and of His Church.

Bishop Cote reminded all the seminarians that as ministers of God and of the Church they are to read the signs of the times, to think with the Church, to share the Good News of the Lord and to signs of mercy for the faithful. He emphasized that priests and deacons and other ministers are to be gentle shepherds of the Gospel: nothing harsh, nothing repelling when it comes to teaching the faith and exercising the pastoral office.
My friend and neighbor, Ken Dagliere, a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Hartford was one of the men given ministry of acolyte. His new ministry allows him to officially serve at the altar, expose and repose the Blessed Sacrament and cleanse the liturgical vessels if a deacon or priest is not available.

Queen of the Apostles Chapel at the Sem.jpg

Driving to and from the seminary there was a tangible experience holiness and the feeling of rightness of the event just lived: not only did I sense the presence of the Holy Spirit but also the graces of friendship and the beauty of the horizon revealed the face of God. New England color is particularly revealing of God’s interest in our lives. You know when something is “just right,” “just what it’s supposed to be.” Saint Catherine of Siena tells us that we know that grace is at work in our lives when we are who we are meant to be; in another vein: we are to strive to be what God has made us to be. It is an awareness of the Divine Plan in our lives. And so today, 27 seminarians, visiting priests and laity with the bishop asked the Holy Spirit once again make hallow the lives those called to priesthood. But lest we forget that all people have vocations: some it’s priesthood, for others it’s teaching, and others the lay life in its multiplicity of works; all are called to seek the face of Christ and to live the Gospel and the sacraments.
May Mary, Queen of the Apostles and seminarians, pray for Ken and the other seminarians as they continue their formation for priesthood.

The priest is a fighting man


Fr Linus blessing Fr Ambrose.jpg

Preaching the first Mass of a newly ordained member of his monastic community, Benedictine Father Ambrose Bennett cited “Emmanuel Cardinal Suhard, who served as Archbishop of Paris
in the post-war years, expressed this mystery [of the priesthood] very eloquently in a beautiful
pastoral letter that he wrote to his priest on Holy Thursday of 1949:

At the altar, the priest, like
Christ, is the [sacrificial] victim. But he is also the sacrificer; he is then
the dreadful man, the one who works death, the one who slays sin and burns it,
the one who is crucified and who crucifies, the one who cannot save the world,
nor will consent to its salvation, save through nailing it to the Cross.
“Without the shedding of blood there is no redemption” (Heb. 9.22)… That is why
the priest in relation to society must always be somehow or other its
adversary. He will never be forgiven for recalling and perpetuating, from
generation to generation, Christ, whom they thought they had suppressed
forever… Far from being a fatherly adviser or a good-natured citizen, a priest
is, like God, a terrible being. He is a fighting man… Like Saint Michael, he
challenges the Dragon, dragging him out of ambush by healing men’s hearts, so
as to crush one by one his ever resurgent heads. Although it is too frequently
overlooked, a priest is an exorcist…; he has the power and the duty of
expelling the Devil (Cardinal Suhard, Priests Among Men, pp. 82-83; 44-45).

Father Brian W. Monnerat, RIP

Fr Monnerat.jpgPlease keep in your prayers the repose of the soul of the Reverend Father Brian W. Monnerat, 60, priest of the Archdiocese of Hartford, who died, July 14, 2010, while on vacation with his family. He was ordained a priest in 1988, when I first met him. This is a sad time for the archdiocese.

Father Brian was the pastor of Saint Matthew Church, Forrestville, CT.

A special prayer for priests, and for those who struggle with their weight and have cardiac problems.
Come Holy Spirit. Come through Mary.