Cardinal Wilton Gregory ordained 16 new priests for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington during a Mass of Priesthood Ordination on Saturday June 15 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Those 16 new priests constitute the largest ordination class in the Archdiocese of Washington since 1960, when 17 men were ordained, which remains the archdiocese’s largest ordination class since 1948, when then-Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle was installed as the first resident archbishop of Washington. Sixteen priests were also ordained for the archdiocese in 1954 and 1955. The largest priesthood classes in the Archdiocese of Washington in recent years include in 2006, when 12 new priests were ordained, and in 2022 and 2019, when, 10 new priests were ordained.
Father Mark Ivany, the director of priest vocations for the Archdiocese of Washington, said he felt “excitement and gratitude” about the 16 men being ordained as priests.
“They’ve all been brought to the Church of Washington. Some grew up here. Some came to Washington for school or work, but they felt called to serve the Church of Washington. That’s the common thread,” he said.
The diverse group includes men born in Washington, D.C., in Maryland, and from several other states, along with men born in Costa Rica, Jamaica, Rwanda and Vietnam. They come from varied backgrounds and professional and personal experiences, including a former emergency room physician, a former police officer, and a grandfather.
“The way they fit together has been very inspiring,” Father Ivany said.
The following profiles of the new priests are based on vocation questionnaires that they filled out, and on information from the dcpriest.org website. This roundup article was written by editor Mark Zimmermann, managing editor Richard Szczepanowski and reporter Catherine Buckler of the archdiocese’s Catholic Standard newspaper and website.
Father Fidèle Bimenyimana
Living through a civil war in his native Rwanda and seeing how the decimation caused by that war impacted the faith life of the people there led Father Fidèle Bimenyimana to the priesthood.
“After the period of the genocide in my country, which took place in the year 1994, many parishes were left without any priest to administer the sacraments,” he said. “This has left in me an awareness of the indispensable role of priests in the life of the Church.”
Father Bimenyimana was referring to the strife in that African nation which saw nearly a million Rwandans slaughtered in clashes between the Hutus and Tutsis.
“It was a moving moment when time to time a priest showed up in our parish for the celebration of the Eucharist,” Father Bimenyimana recalled.
Amid the destruction of the war’s aftermath, the future priest said he saw “no one among lay people … had the power to do what the ordained minister does for the whole people of God – namely to allow them participate in the Paschal Mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
He was inspired by the example of his mother who “introduced to me to the Catholic faith since I was very young.” In his parish, he was active in different groups, including the children’s choir and a charismatic group. After high school, he became active in the Neocatechumenal Way.
The Neocatechumenal Way, founded 60 years ago this year, is a Catholic movement dedicated to adult and family faith formation. An estimated 1.5 million Catholics belong to the Way in about 40,000 parish-based groups in more than 130 nations around the world.
The Neocatechumenal Way, frequently referred to as The Way, has also established more than 120 Redemptoris Mater diocesan mission seminaries around the world, including one in Hyattsville, Maryland, for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
He said it was during his participation in The Way that “I received a call from God to the priesthood.”
“When I joined the community of the Neocatechumenal way, I saw how many priests who were full of zeal for the evangelization. This also has inspired me for the vocation to the priesthood,” he said. “I think I was attracted to the lifestyle of missionary priests whom I met in my life and many other holy and humble priests who ministered different sacraments to me, especially the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.”
Father Bimenyimana also has what he calls “a special devotion” to Our Lady of Kibeho. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in a series of apparitions over several years in the early- to mid-1980s to a group of schoolgirls in Kibeho, Rwanda. She identified herself as "Nyina wa Jambo” (“Mother of the Word”) and predicted the Rwandan civil war. The apparitions were approved by the local Church in the 1990s and were deemed worthy of belief by the Vatican in 2001.
Prior to entering the Redemptoris Mater seminary in Hyattsville as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington, Father Bimenyimana worked for several years as a machine operator for a Rwandan industrial company. He later attended Kigali Independent University where in 2013 he earned a bachelor’s degree in law.
In addition to English, Father Bimenyimana – who turned 39 on New Year’s Day – speaks French and Kinyarwanda, a Bantu language that is one of the four national languages of Rwanda. He enjoys playing soccer.
After ordination, Father Fidèle Bimenyimana will celebrate his first Mass on Sunday, June 16 at 10 a.m. at Nativity Catholic Church in Washington, D.C.
Father Benjamin Bralove
Working as an emergency room physician for six years in Manhattan and the Bronx, Dr. Benjamin Bralove treated people needing physical healing.
Now after Father Benjamin Bralove was ordained by Cardinal Wilton Gregory as one of 16 new priests for the Archdiocese of Washington on June 15 at the National Shrine, he hopes to bring spiritual healing to people.
The 37-year-old native of Washington who grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland was baptized and confirmed as a member of the Episcopal Church while he was an undergraduate student majoring in chemistry at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
“As my knowledge and practice of Christianity grew, I felt called to a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the faith, especially in relationship to Scripture, Tradition and science,” he wrote in a reflection on his vocation, adding that search inspired him to become Catholic at the Easter Vigil during his senior year of college.
Later while attending medical school at Boston University and then during his residency, he felt called to the priesthood, but he decided to complete his medical training and work in that field.
Explaining his journey to the priesthood, Father Bralove wrote, “I was growing in my Eucharistic faith. Love for the Eucharist drew me closer to the mystery of the priesthood. Also, the ER is filled with people who are physically sick but also many who are also spiritually sick people. I began to see my life as a progression from addressing physical illness to including spiritual sickness as well.”
In 2018, he became a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington, studying first at the Saint John Paul II Seminary in the nation’s capital, and since 2020 at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.
His interests include skiing, kite surfing, traveling and cooking.
After his ordination to the priesthood, Father Benjamin Bralove will celebrate his first Mass at Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Church in Washington on Sunday June 16 at 2:30 p.m.
In an earlier interview, Deacon Bralove said that after becoming a priest, his experience as a doctor will help him in his ministry, including as he brings Communion to those who are ill and administers the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick to the dying, which continue the healing ministry of Jesus to people today.
“While medicine can address physical ailments, it is not equipped to address the profound spiritual problems people are facing,” he said. “The more I practiced (medicine), the more I felt called to heal people in a different way.”
Father James Fangmeyer Jr.
When Father James Fangmeyer Jr. was ordained as one of 16 new priests of the Archdiocese of Washington on June 15 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, he followed in the footsteps of his uncle, Father Lee Fangmeyer, the pastor of Mother Seton Parish in Germantown, who in 1989 was also ordained at the National Shrine in a large ordination class of 10 new priests for the archdiocese.
His uncle was the priest vesting him at his ordination.
Reflecting on the roots of his vocation, Father James Fangmeyer Jr. wrote that his parents, James and Amanda Fangmeyer, had prayed that “James would grow up to become the man God put him on earth to be.”
The new priest, who is now 31, grew up as a member of St. Patrick Parish in Rockville. After graduating from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with an economics degree, he co-created a web application to support spiritual growth, and co-created a business to connect people via live 3-D holographic projection, ProfesorAvatar.com. Before that, he worked as a data analyst in Mexico.
At the age of 25, he decided to enter the Saint John Paul II Seminary.
“I found that prayer, sacraments, and grace offered real life. I chose to go all in on ‘becoming the man God put me on earth to be,’” Father Fangmeyer wrote in a reflection his vocation.
Explaining what drew him to the priesthood, he wrote, “I wanted to be part of a community and to be a leader drawing that community together and toward God. I discovered the role of a celibate priest through the example of diocesan priests in my life. They were able to love everyone in a way that attracted my heart. They were able to touch the deepest needs of each individual in an intimate way by the grace of God's concrete intervention in the sacraments… When the Lord called me through Eucharistic Adoration, Reconciliation, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, he drew me toward accepting the role of the priest as a special gift from Him.”
Father Fangmeyer, who continued his seminary studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, has drawn inspiration from the Catholic movement Communion and Liberation. “I want to be a happy and holy priest,” he wrote.
Following ordination, Father James Fangmeyer Jr. will return to his home church, St. Patrick’s in Rockville, and celebrate his first Mass there on Sunday June 16 at noon.
Father Christopher Feist
Father Christopher Feist summarizes his call to priesthood as a pull on his heart. On June 15, he was among three graduates of St. Mary’s Ryken High School in Leonardtown, along with Father Joseph Heisey and Father John Winslow, to be ordained as new priests for the Archdiocese of Washington.
A California native, he is the son of Barney and Diana Feist, and he moved with his family to Southern Maryland and started attending St. John’s School in Hollywood as a sixth grader. “There, through good friends, teachers and preparation for Confirmation, I came to know the Lord and began to develop a life of prayer,” he said.
After he started attending St. Mary’s Ryken High School, he met many priests and seminarians, especially through the archdiocese’s Quo Vadis retreat program. In a reflection, Father Feist noted that Father Scott Woods “had a huge impact on my vocation. He was a spiritual director and mentor to me (and) encouraged me to consider the Lord’s call to the priesthood.”
At his priestly ordination, Father Woods vested him.
During his high school years, Father Feist discerned his vocation through prayer and spiritual direction. “In the end, I would say I was convinced to enter by hearing the call from God in prayer, the help and example of others, and the steady pull of my heart toward seminary and the priesthood,” he wrote in a reflection.
After graduating from St. Mary’s Ryken in 2016, he entered the seminary with three of his classmates. While preparing for the priesthood, he has studied at Saint John Paul II Seminary in Washington and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in 2020.
Father Feist, who was on his high school’s sailing team for four years, has been in the U.S. Navy Reserve since 2021, serving as an officer in the Navy Chaplain Candidate Program, where he has been trained to serve as a chaplain.
The new priest, who is now 25, has played the violin since he was 8 years old. Along with sailing, he also enjoys powerlifting, running, cycling and fishing.
After his ordination to the priesthood, Father Christopher Feist will return to his home church, St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Leonardtown, to celebrate his first Mass on Sunday June 16 at 8 a.m.
Father Joseph Gonzalez
A native of Washington, D.C., Father Joseph Gonzalez led four pilgrimages to World Youth Day, participated in three mission trips to Central America and served a stint in the United States Marines before becoming a priest for his home archdiocese.
The son of immigrants from El Salvador and a member of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Takoma Park, Maryland, the new priest said he had questions about his faith that were not settled until he served in the military.
“I came back to the Catholic Church after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. I had many questions and confusion about the Church,” he explained. “I told God that I will keep coming to Church, but He has to show me the truth and help me understand His will for me.”
Father Gonzalez kept his word and “continued to come to church every Sunday, and participated in many parish and Charismatic Renewal retreats.” As he became active in his parish, he discovered “my questions were being answered – the Lord put many people in my life to help me to settle the doubts I had about the Church.”
While in the Marines, Father Gonzalez was a field radio operator assigned to an artillery battery where he served two deployments with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit in the West Pacific region.
He once considered the priesthood when he was an 18-year-old Marine. A Navy chaplain who was celebrating Mass at Parris Island, South Carolina, told the military men in attendance that the priesthood is a way to “still be serving your country and your brothers and sisters, but in a more powerful way.”
Father Gonzalez admitted that “I said to the Lord in prayer that evening, ‘I can consider it, but not right now.’”
The change of heart, he said, began not only with encounters with “the many joyful priests that I have met,” but also from the inspiration of Father Vincent Capodanno, a Maryknoll priest killed in action while serving as a chaplain with a Marine Corps infantry unit during the Vietnam War. His cause for canonization was opened in 2002.
“During a vocations retreat for youth, I said to the Lord while praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament, ‘Why are not any of these kids stepping forward to discern the priesthood or religious life?,’” Father Gonzalez said. “It was almost as if I had a heard a voice saying, ‘Why not you?’”
He said it was then that he remembered what the Navy chaplain said at the Parris Island Mass, and “I remembered what I told Jesus in prayer that night. I said, ‘I can consider it, but not right now. First I have to finish what I started [in the Marine Corps]’.”
Father Gonzalez also noted that his godfather, Danilo Chamorro, also had an impact on his vocation. His godfather, he said, “walked with me ever since I received the Sacrament of Confirmation. When I began to have doubts, he listened to me, he prayed for me, and he guided me, always centered on Christ.”
In 2018, at the age of 45, Joseph Gonzalez participated in a discernment retreat at the Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts. That seminary is specifically for men over the age of 30 who have discerned a vocation later in life. He did indeed discern his vocation and entered the seminary.
Before preparing for the priesthood, Father Gonzalez was employed as a software test engineer for 18 years and for 10 years was active in youth ministry at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish and was involved in a youth ministry that serves the Archdiocese of Washington called “Tira La Red” (Cast the Net).
After ordination, Father Joseph Gonzalez will celebrate his first Mass on Sunday, June 16 at noon at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Takoma Park.
Father Conor Hardy
Father Conor Hardy’s ordination to the priesthood comes after a varied career as a police officer and Catholic school teacher. But the desire to become a priest is one he can trace back to when he was a kindergarten student.
“My first recognition of an action of grace in my heart was in kindergarten when my teacher went through a ‘Stations of the Cross for Kids’ booklet,” Father Hardy said. “When she turned the page to the 12th Station (Jesus is Crucified), I pointed at the picture, shouted ‘I want to be a priest!,’ and cried.”
However, despite that “recognition of an action of grace,” the new priest said, “my faith was not serious growing up until I came to a conversion in the eighth grade when the class was assigned to read Our Lady of Fatima by William Thomas Walsh.”
“That book strongly impacted me, and I began to take my relationship with Jesus and Mary more seriously and know them more intimately,” he said.
After high school, Conor Hardy – a native of Washington, D.C. whose home parish is the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament – entered a seminary in New York, but he left after a year to discern his vocation. He then transferred to The Catholic University of America.
Later he joined the D.C. Metropolitan Police, where he was a patrol officer and crisis intervention officer. In that job, he said, “I struggled with the problem of evil and suffering.” He later left the police to become a fourth grade teacher at The Heights School, an independent Catholic school for boys in Potomac, Maryland. It was the school he attended as a student and was the school where he found his calling to the priesthood.
“After transitioning from policing to teaching, I received a grace I attribute very much to the prayers of the faithful for vocations, and I had a change of heart one day while seated at my desk after school,” he said. “It was enough to re-enter seminary where I would continue to grow toward deeper conversion and love for Jesus Christ and His Mother.”
When he himself was an eighth grade student at The Heights, Deacon Hardy had what he called “a very pivotal conversion” when his religion teacher, Dr. Bill Hogan, taught him about Our Lady of Fatima. The new priest said he was also inspired by Father Paul Kais, an Opus Dei priest who was serving as school chaplain and whose “gentle and firm demeanor, calm, self-controlled, and quiet but deep love for Our Lord made a great impression on me.”
Father Kais later served as adjunct spiritual director at Mount St. Mary’s, the Emmitsburg, Maryland seminary that Father Hardy attended after becoming a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington in 2017 and attending Saint John Paul II Seminary.
While Father Hardy is quick to point out that Dr. Hogan and Father Kais had an impact on his decision to become a priest, he said that ultimately “what drew me to the priesthood was love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”
Father Hardy’s interests outside of the priesthood are as varied as his career choices were prior to entering the seminary. He used to box in downtown Washington, and he played ice hockey while growing up. Deacon Hardy enjoys reading, writing letters, poetry, going hiking and playing the guitar and Irish whistle.
After his ordination, Father Conor Hardy will celebrate his first Mass on Sunday, June 16 at 12:30 p.m. at his home parish, the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Washington.
Father Joseph Heisey
A desire to become a military chaplain inspired Joseph Heisey to enter the seminary after earning a physics degree from The Catholic University of America. On June 15, he was ordained by Cardinal Wilton Gregory as one of 16 new priests for the Archdiocese of Washington.
“I intended to be a soldier before joining the seminary, and now I plan to be an Army chaplain,” Father Heisey wrote in a reflection on his call to priesthood. The new priest added that he felt a “desire to bring the faith to soldiers after realizing that there was something missing from the culture of the military, despite its focus on service and duty. I had a sense that someone had to bring Jesus into this environment.”
After serving in the U.S. Army Reserve for two years as an engineering officer, during the past five years, he has served as a chaplain candidate while in the seminary.
Father Heisey, who is 29, is a native of California. He is the son of Peter and Nicole Heisey and has seven siblings. After his family moved to Maryland, he attended St. Mary’s Ryken High School in Leonardtown, where he graduated in 2013. During his high school years, he served as a counselor at the Catholic summer camp sponsored by St. John Francis Regis Parish in Hollywood, Maryland.
In his vocation reflection, Father Heisey noted, “I grew up Catholic and always practiced. I began to take my faith personally in high school, thanks to good high school teachers and (my) Catholic summer camp experience.” While a student at Catholic University, he attended daily Mass and began to sense a call to seminary. He began his formation one year after graduating.
When he was ordained as a new priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, the men ordained with him included two fellow graduates from St. Mary’s Ryken High School – Father Christopher Feist from the class of 2016 and Father John Winslow from the class of 2015.
Father Heisey’s interests include boxing, lifting weights, and making things from wood. In a vocation profile on the dcpriest.org website, he joked, “I like whittling, but it makes my room look like a hamster cage.”
During his seminary years, he studied at the Saint John Paul II Seminary and Theological College in Washington. After his ordination, Father Joseph Heisey will return to his home parish, St. George in Valley Lee, to celebrate his first Mass on Sunday June 16, at 10:30 a.m.
Father Joseph McHenry
Father Joseph McHenry – who was ordained as one of 16 new priests of the Archdiocese of Washington on June 15 – had a special vantage point of local parishes while working as a liturgical assistant in the archdiocesan Office of Worship from 2018-19.
Reflecting on that earlier work in a vocation profile on the dcpriest.org website, Father McHenry noted, “I helped coordinate liturgies for parish staffs as well as for the bishops of our diocese. Often, my work took me to many parishes across the archdiocese – some 75 in all! It was a great joy for me to see the vibrancy of our local church in festive occasions such as Confirmations, patronal feasts and altar dedications.”
While earning a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs at George Washington University, Joseph McHenry’s Catholic faith and understanding of Jesus’s love for him deepened, and he felt called to priesthood. A key mentor for him was Father Greg Shaffer, then the chaplain at the G.W. Newman Center who now serves as pastor at Our Lady of the Visitation Parish in Darnestown, Maryland.
After graduating, Joseph McHenry spent four years in formation as a Dominican friar at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, but eventually he was drawn to the diocesan priesthood in Washington.
“I felt God inviting me to discern the priesthood further as part of this local Church of Washington where my faith had been nurtured for nearly a decade. I also love interacting and sharing the Gospel with people from all walks of life. This made parish ministry increasingly attractive,” Father McHenry wrote in his vocation profile on dcpriest.org.
He became a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington in 2019, studying first at the Saint John Paul II Seminary and then at Theological College in Washington. In 2021, he earned a licentiate in philosophy from Catholic University.
The 32-year-old Massachusetts native grew up in Buffalo and remains a fan of the Buffalo Bills football team. His other interests include hiking and road trips. By earlier this year, he had been to nearly 100 of the parishes in the Archdiocese of Washington. He also enjoys reading novels, short stories, historical books and biographies.
After his ordination, Father Joseph McHenry will begin serving parishes in the archdiocese as a priest, and he will celebrate his first Mass on Sunday June 16 at 9 a.m. at St. Peter’s Church on Capitol Hill.
Father Joseph Thong Van Nguyen
The freedom to practice and share his Catholic faith has been central to the life of Father Joseph Thong Van Nguyen, who grew up in communist Vietnam and immigrated to the United States at the age of 26. On June 15, he was among 16 new priests ordained by Cardinal Wilton Gregory for the Archdiocese of Washington.
On the dcpriest.org website, he summarized what convinced him to enter the seminary: “I recognized that God is love, and I also learned that true power is only found in Jesus. As Saint John Paul said, true freedom and true knowledge are only found in Jesus.”
Father Nguyen grew up in a devout Catholic family in Vietnam, one of seven children. His family went to daily Mass and prayed the rosary together every night. Two of his younger brothers – Father Trung Nguyen and Father Tien Nguyen – are priests, and another sibling, Brother Khuong Van Nguyen, is a member of a religious order.
When Thong Nguyen was in college, he helped establish a Catholic Student Association in Hanoi, and he and his friends went to Mass, attended Eucharistic Adoration and prayed the rosary together. He said communist security police started following members of the group.
“After speaking up for the freedom of religion in Vietnam, I was arrested by the communist government, and then I escaped Vietnam to Thailand,” he wrote in that vocations reflection.
After arriving in the United States, he continued attending daily Mass and praying the rosary and other Catholic devotions. He also wrote articles for newspapers and websites about religious persecution in Vietnam, and volunteered with a variety of human rights organizations to advocate for freedom of religion and against human trafficking. In 2017, he testified before a U.S. Congress subcommittee on human rights and participated in a White House discussion prior to the visit of a Vietnamese leader.
Father Nguyen, who has a degree in business administration, became a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington in 2017, first studying at the Saint John Paul II Seminary and later at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg.
Now 38, the new priest likes playing soccer, drinking Vietnamese coffee and eating Pho, a type of Vietnamese soup.
Reflecting on his vocation, Father Nguyen wrote, “I want to use the rest of my life to serve God as a priest.”
After his ordination, Father Thong Nguyen will celebrate his first Mass at his home parish, Our Lady of Vietnam in Silver Spring, on Sunday June 16 at 11 a.m.
Father Dylan Prentice
Father Dylan Prentice is a native of Gaithersburg, Maryland who grew up in St. Martin of Tours Parish. He said that “thanks to incredible mentors, friends, and others along the way,” he became “inspired in the faith… (and) learned how to be a disciple of Christ and seek holiness from other disciples who seek holiness.”
Several priests, he said, were also instrumental in him recognizing his religious vocation.
“My home parish pastor, now-Bishop Mark Brennan of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, (West Virginia) was always encouraging me to consider a vocation to the priesthood as a teenager,” Father Prentice said. He added that his priest spiritual directors in college and graduate school were also “helpful in my discernment and were good examples of faithful priests.”
While he appreciates the example of those priests, he pointed out that “I could not credit my vocation to one person other than Christ Himself who so clearly called me.”
Prior to studying at the Saint John Paul II Seminary and Theological College, Dylan Prentice, who is now 28, pursued a career in classical music. He earned a bachelor’s degree in voice performance and began studies for master’s degrees in opera performance and choral conducting.
He served as an organist, vocalist, choir member and choir director for churches of different denominations. He was also an opera teaching assistant and voice and piano teacher.
“I had not thought much about the priesthood until a life-changing encounter with Christ in the Eucharist during a retreat in college,” he said. “… A good priest helped me understand that Christ was calling me to give His Body and Blood to the people as He had so intimately shown me. After running from that call, I came to understand Christ's deep and powerful mercy for me… It wasn’t until then that I both knew Christ was calling me to the priesthood and I desired that vocation for myself.”
That devotion to the Eucharist, he said, is something that he experienced most of his life.
“From a young age, I knew and believed very firmly in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist,” Father Prentice said. “This sustained my faith as a child and youth despite some years of inactivity in the faith.”
While in college and graduate school, Father Prentice found what he called “a wonderful group of Catholic friends who encouraged and inspired my faith and ushered me into campus ministry.”
“Through those friends, their faith, and all the faith, prayer, and ministry experiences, I came to know Christ deeper and came to desire a life close to Him in prayer and in the sacramental life of the Church,” he said.
In addition to his faith and music, Father Prentice’s other interests include reading, soccer, camping, hiking, and feasting on steamed Maryland blue crabs.
After his ordination, Father Dylan Prentice will celebrate his first Mass on Sunday, June 16 at 11:30 a.m. at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Bethesda, Maryland.
Father Benedict Radich
Father Benedict Radich was seven years old when he first considered the priesthood. Nineteen years later when was ordained as one of 16 new priests for the Archdiocese of Washington on June 15, he fulfilled this dream and vocation, which he said was greatly inspired by growing up in a religious family with a close connection to their local parish, where he was able to meet priests who inspired him.
“In middle and high school, I began to make the faith that had been given to me my own. By God’s grace I was very faithful to Confession, and then spiritual direction as well,” said Father Radich.
Growing up in Montgomery County, Maryland, Father Radich was the oldest of six children in his family, and he was active in several Catholic youth groups and attended Quo Vadis retreats during his high school years. He credits his parents, Darenys and Paul Radich, with creating a strong foundation of faith. After being homeschooled and briefly attending The Heights School in Potomac, Maryland, Benedict Radich entered the Saint John Paul II Seminary in Washington in 2016 and studied at the nearby Catholic University of America.
“Though prayer was a part of my life from a young age, I credit my seminary formation, especially at JPII, with teaching me the deeper ways of prayer. I had the opportunity to make retreats every summer, even in Covid,” Father Radich shared in a reflection on his vocation. Later he continued his studies at Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
His path to priesthood was paved by God, said Father Radich, who added that experiences throughout his life helped him realize his calling.
“Who drew me to the priesthood? God. He was deeply reverent to the various ways I was able to receive that call: my friends, other seminarians, beautiful marriages (especially my parents), good priests, intense crosses, even good novels. He drew me to Himself in so many ways, and the closer we grew, the clearer His voice became,” Father Radich said.
Father Radich is a versatile musician who plays drums and the ukulele, and he played in several bands in high school. He considered pursuing music professionally before joining the seminary. His interests also include cycling and playing basketball.
Following his ordination, Father Benedict Radich will celebrate his first Mass at St. Patrick’s Church in Rockville on Sunday June 16 at 4:30 p.m. Before the Mass, there will be a Holy Hour and an opportunity for Confession at 3 p.m.
Father Nathaniel Roberts
Nathaniel Roberts worked in commercial construction, overseeing large projects as a superintendent such as office renovations and public playgrounds before entering the seminary. Now he will help build up the Church after he was ordained on June 15 as one of 16 new priests for the Archdiocese of Washington.
Growing up Catholic in the island city of Key West, Florida to parents Alan and Kathy Roberts, Father Roberts has two sisters and a brother.
“I was drawn to the priesthood somewhat in my early years thanks to the witness (of) some of the priests I knew growing up. Later in college the beauty of the ministry that they provided to us on the campus made me consider priesthood seriously for the first time. Lastly, it was the witness of friends from college entering the priesthood and getting to know them better throughout their discernment that drew me to the priesthood,” he wrote in a reflection on his vocation.
After graduating from Florida Keys Community College and Thomas Aquinas College in California, and working in construction, he became a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington, studying at the Saint John Paul II Seminary and then Theological College, the diocesan seminary of The Catholic University of America. Although he thought about a priestly vocation at a young age, it was not until two close friends of his were ordained that he seriously considered becoming a priest himself.
“After that weekend, I began to seriously consider the seminary and the priesthood. I began to do spiritual direction with my pastor and increase my prayer life. After a few months of working with my pastor, I still could not shake the idea that God might be calling me to the priesthood,” Father Roberts shared in a reflection.
The new priest’s interests include saltwater fishing, building his own computers and gaming, as well as reading science fiction and fantasy. Prior to life in the seminary, he brewed his own beer as well.
Following his ordination, Father Nathaniel Roberts will celebrate his first Mass at St. Jerome Catholic Church in Hyattsville, Maryland, on Sunday June 16 at 10:30 a.m.
Father Isaac Sagastume
His mother’s health scare and a 2013 World Youth Day pilgrimage to Brazil led to Father Isaac Sagastume’s call to priesthood. On June 15, he was ordained as one of 16 new priests for the Archdiocese of Washington.
The 30-year-old native of Costa Rica arrived in the United States when he was six years old. He was raised in Bergenfield, New Jersey.
“After immigrating to the United States my family rarely went to church. It was through a difficult period in my mother’s health that she decided to return to the Church,” he recalled in a reflection on his vocation. “She brought me to the Neocatechumenal Way where I began to have an encounter with the Lord. In 2013 at the World Youth Day in Brazil, I heard the call of the Lord to the priesthood.”
Founded in Spain in 1964, the Neocatechumenal Way is a Catholic movement dedicated to adult and family faith formation. An estimated 1.5 million Catholics belong to The Way in about 40,000 parish-based groups worldwide.
The Neocatechumenal Way, frequently referred to as The Way, has also established more than 100 Redemptoris Mater diocesan mission seminaries around the world, including one in Hyattsville, Maryland, for the Archdiocese of Washington. That is the seminary where Father Sagastume studied.
The new priest credits as important to his religious vocation, the parochial vicar of the parish his family attended when they returned to the Catholic Church – Father Manuel Dueñas, a native of Burgos, Spain who now serves as vice-rector of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Newark, New Jersey.
“Seeing how normal the priest of my parish was – he played soccer, joked, etc. – and how through the preaching he helped me to encounter Christ made me want to do the same,” Father Sagastume said of Father Dueñas.
After his ordination, Father Isaac Sagastume will celebrate his first Mass on Sunday, June 16 at 11 a.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle in Washington.
Father John Winslow
The son of Curtis and Kelley Winslow, Father John Winslow grew up in Hollywood, Maryland alongside two sisters. Father Winslow said he “fell deeper in love with Christ” while attending St. Mary’s Ryken High School in Leonardtown, Maryland and joined the seminary immediately after graduating in 2015.
When he was ordained as one of 16 new priests for the Archdiocese of Washington on June 15, Father Winslow was joined by two fellow St. Mary’s Ryken graduates entering the priesthood – Father Joseph Heisey from the class of 2013 and Father Christopher Feist from the class of 2016.
He has credited Father Ray Schmidt, the pastor at St. John Francis Regis Parish in Hollywood, and Father Scott Woods, the spiritual director when he was St. Mary’s Ryken who now serves as the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in La Plata, as two important figures in his path to vocation.
“I grew up Catholic, but I first encountered Christ as a sophomore in high school while attending Mount2000, a youth retreat. During the Eucharistic Procession, I came to recognize Christ's presence in the Eucharist and first felt called to the priesthood. Over the rest of high school, I slowly fell deeper in love with Christ and His priesthood, and I entered seminary after graduating,” Father Winslow said.
Mount2000 is a retreat hosted by Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary for high schoolers where they can experience Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, and guest speakers and musicians with their peers.
After entering the seminary, John Winslow attended Saint John Paul II Seminary and Theological College in Washington, D.C., and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He first considered becoming a priest when he was 15 years old.
“I fell in love with Christ and wanted to help others experience the love and healing I myself have encountered through the sacraments. Most especially, I felt called toward the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation,” Father Winslow said.
Father Winslow enjoys many outdoor activities, including snowboarding, hiking, backpacking, and fishing. He has served Mass globally, including famous locations where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared, such as the Chapel of the Apparitions in Fátima, Portugal and the Lourdes Grotto in France.
Father John Winslow’s home parish growing up was St. John Francis Regis Parish, where he will also be celebrating his first Mass on Sunday June 16 at 3 p.m.
Father Stephen Wong
Father Stephen Wong grew up in Kingston, Jamaica and moved to the United States when he was 17 years old. He was a leader well before finding his vocation as a priest, serving in the U.S. Army for 40 years – 21 years of active military service and 19 years in federal civilian service – supervising and conducting counterintelligence and human intelligence operations and activities globally. He has worked in the Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Korea and Afghanistan. Before entering the seminary, he served as the principal counterintelligence advisor to the NATO Supreme Commander, primarily working on counterterrorism.
On June 15, Father Wong was among 16 men ordained as new priests for the Archdiocese of Washington.
An important figure in his vocation was Father Joe Campbell, an Army chaplain whose life as priest inspired him and helped him deepen his relationship with Christ.
In a reflection on the dcpriest.org website, Father Wong reflected on what convinced him to enter the seminary. After his distinguished career serving in the military, he had a sense that more awaited him.
“Despite a military career, I had always felt a void in my life. I couldn’t really put my finger on it until three years ago when my heart was drawn to the Liturgy of the Hours, and I fell so deeply and passionately in love with Jesus Christ. I have always loved our Lord, but this time it was different,” he wrote, adding, “…I knew and felt the Holy Spirit leading me to change direction.”
In 2019, he became a seminarian for the archdiocese, and he has studied for the priesthood at Theological College in Washington. He earlier graduated from the University of the State of New York with a degree in business.
Father Wong, who is now 62, is ready for this new chapter of his life, which he aims to focus on serving those in his community as a mentor in faith and by reflecting Jesus in what he teaches.
“In pursuing the path to priesthood, I have been blessed with spiritual guidance and the transformative grace of God. The call to serve as a diocesan priest is not just a vocation but a profound commitment to emulate Christ’s love, lead by example, and care for the souls entrusted to one’s pastoral care,” Father Wong said.
Summarizing his calling, the future priest said, “As I have served my nation, Jesus Christ is now leading me to serve His people.”
Following his ordination, Father Stephen Wong will celebrate his first Mass at St. Peter's on Capitol Hill on Sunday June 16 at 5 p.m.
Father Gregory Zingler
Long before he was ordained as a new priest for the Archdiocese of Washington on June 15, Father Gregory Zingler was called father. And grandfather. That is because the priest has one daughter, two sons and seven grandchildren.
The 64-year-old native of New Jersey discerned his religious vocation at the age of 57, after being married, serving in the armed forces and volunteering with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
“After marriage, I desired to work for the poor and through prayerful discernment, was led to the Missionaries of Charity’s Gift of Peace home in Northeast Washington, D.C.,” Father Zingler explained. “I served there as a live-in volunteer (from) 2010-2020, caring for the poor, where I discerned my vocation to the priesthood.”
Prior to serving with the Missionaries of Charity, he served in the U.S. Navy as a Supply Corps officer aboard the USS Forrestal (CVA-59), an aircraft carrier that was eventually decommissioned in 1993. He also served as a Supply Corps officer and as a facilities manager at his alma mater, the U.S. Naval Academy. Father Zingler’s two sons currently serve in the military.
The son of a Russian Jewish mother and German-Austrian Catholic father, the new priest and his four siblings were raised Catholic.
“At an early age, my older sister taught me how to pray the rosary, and ever since the sixth or seventh grade, I had a grace-filled devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the holy rosary,” he said. “While attending the U.S. Naval Academy, I was introduced to the scriptural rosary which opened the door to additional graces and deeper meditation on the mysteries of the rosary.”
He added that “without question, becoming a husband and father of three children ... and having the privilege of serving the poor for 10 years with the Missionaries of Charity, have deepened my faith and prepared me to follow Jesus to the priesthood.”
Once he discerned his vocation, he entered the Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts, a seminary specifically for men over the age of 30 who have discovered a vocation later in life.
“My devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and quiet reflection and prayer convinced me to pursue a late vocation and enter the seminary,” he wrote for his profile on his seminary’s website. “I enjoy helping others smile and to see more clearly that the path they are on is being led by Jesus who loves them tremendously.“
After his ordination, Father Gregory Zingler will celebrate his first Mass on Sunday June 16 at the chapel in the Gift of Peace home in Washington.
