|
Praise God
from whom all blessings flow
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
This Saturday, June 3, it will be my privilege to ordain Deacons Josh
Janko and Eric Underwood to the priesthood. It will be the second year
in a row that two men have been added to the presbyterate of this Local
Church. This is a cause for hope and joy. Thanks be to God!
Three weeks later, Daniel Duff of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, Carmel,
David Hasser of St. Boniface Parish, Lafayette, and Christopher Roberts
of All Saints Parish, Logansport, will be ordained transitory deacons. I
welcome them to the clergy of our Local Church. They will advance to the
priesthood on June 16, 2007.
This year’s ordinations will take place at 11 a.m. in the Cathedral of
St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Lafayette. If you have never
participated in a ceremony of ordination, I invite you to consider the
grace of this opportunity. Ordination to the diaconate and priesthood is
a special moment for any diocese and a most moving liturgical
experience. All are welcome.
Father Janko will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving (his “first Mass”
as it once was termed) in his home parish of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at
5:30 p.m. Sunday, June 4. Father Underwood will celebrate his Mass of
Thanksgiving in the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception
at 11 a.m. Sunday, June 4.
The ordination ceremony for both priests and deacons includes rituals
rich in meaning and history: prostration, the laying on of hands, the
invocation of the saints of the Church. Essentially, the sacrament of
holy orders is conferred by a bishop as apostle through the laying on of
hands and a prayer of consecration. In the case of priesthood,
concelebrating priests join the ordaining bishop in placing hands on the
heads of men being ordained as a sign of their mutual sharing in the
apostolic ministry. Through ordination to the priesthood, a man is set
apart to function in persona Christi (in the person of Christ). Deacon
and priesthood candidates alike lay prostrate on the floor of the
cathedral during the Litany of the Saints as a sign of their
unworthiness and of their dependence upon God and the prayers of the
community they are being ordained to serve.
After the imposition of hands and the prayer of consecration, the newly
ordained are vested in the liturgical garb of their office. While the
dalmatic and chasuble are the outermost garments, it is the stole that
is the symbol of ordination. The stole symbolizes both the authority and
the responsibility to serve as deacon or priest. It is the “yoke”
reflected in Matthew 11:30: “For my yoke is easy and my burden light.”
In the case of the men being called to the priesthood, I will anoint the
palm of their hands with Chrism. From Old Testament times, the use of
oil signifies setting apart for a sacred purpose. The priests’ hands are
anointed vessels which offer the bread and wine, anoint the sick, and
bless people.
Both Father Janko and Father Underwood will be handed a chalice and a
paten as I say: “Accept from the holy people of God the gifts to be
offered to him. Know what you are doing, and imitate the mystery you
celebrate: model your life on the mystery of the Lord’s cross.”
For Father Janko and Father Underwood, the day of ordination has been
the focus of years of preparation. The formation itself centers on the
whole person, his humanity, his spirit, his intellect. He must learn to
relate to others. He must survive academic classes. Four years of
college and four years of graduate school are demanding. Equally
important, each day is highlighted by spiritual activities such as Mass
and the Prayer of the Hours. There is also regular spiritual direction
and retreat experiences. Not all formation occurs in the seminary. A
seminarian goes to schools and participates in religious education
programs, visits hospitals and parishes. Living in community is an
important part of formation. Of course, each man called to priesthood
must learn how to preside at Mass, administer the sacraments, preach and
provide pastoral counseling.
With the increasing presence of Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters in
Northcentral Indiana, facility with Spanish is becoming increasingly
important. This often requires immersion in Hispanic culture through
study in Mexico. Seminarians, too, are given parish summer assignments.
This acquaints them with the realities of rectory living and gives them
exposure to the role the ordained play in the many activities that take
place in our parishes.
The seminary does not automatically mean ordination. The seminary is a
place of discernment and formation. The ever-present question is whether
God is calling a man to the priesthood. A seminarian is not alone. It is
his life and his will that must be surrendered, but the vocation
director keeps in close contact with each seminarian, testing whether
each man’s commitment to ordination is solidly rooted. At the same time,
the vocation director spends countless hours recruiting additional
candidates and in consultation with seminary personnel.
Seminarians are expected to meet their own collegiate expenses. However,
when a student for the priesthood enters graduate school (theology), he
becomes the responsibility of the diocese. As indicated in my column
last week, an increased number of seminarians (thank God for that
increase), with escalating costs of formation, has in recent years put
extreme stress on diocesan finances. In an effort to narrow our
operating deficit (the hope is to eradicate it), the people of our Local
Church are being asked to make a significant contribution to a
seminarian fund appeal.
This weekend was chosen to kick off the pulpit appeal because it is one
of the two ordination weekends in June. However, there will be a second
opportunity the weekend of June 10-11.
Recently, Father Underwood calculated it has cost $191,000 for the
diocese to prepare him for the priesthood. Other professional people, of
course, are responsible for their own education. However, it is
different with the ordained. The salary we clergy receive simply is not
sufficient to cover the expenses incurred during the years of our
formation. The newly ordained priest’s payback is a life of service to
the people who have made his formation possible.
I am confident that the Catholics of our Local Church never want money
to be a detriment to a man being accepted for the priesthood.
Historically, when Hoosier Catholics have understood the need,
remarkable generosity has resulted. Depending on that, I thank you for
what I am confident will be a generous response to this pulpit appeal.
It needs to be much more than a loose change collection. To meet a
target goal of $350,000, people need to think in terms of $20, $30, $40.
Major gifts, of course, would make the recent deficit operation a
distant memory.
The generosity of the Catholics of Northcentral Indiana has made it
possible for five men to receive holy orders during this month. As we
welcome Father Josh Janko, Father Eric Underwood, Deacon Dan Duff,
Deacon David Hasser and Deacon Christopher Roberts as priests and
deacons of our Local Church, no one is more grateful to you than them. |
