Calling it a “day of joy,” Cardinal Wilton Gregory on June 18 ordained 10 new priests for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington during a Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Joined by about 140 priests serving in the archdiocese and by three bishops, with thousands of people in attendance, the cardinal ordained Father Gerald Andrews, Father Ryan Braam, Father Mattia Cortigiani, Father Carlos de Rodrigo Gutierrez, Father Peter Mlynarczyk, Father James Morgan, Father Grzegorz Okulewicz, Father Thomas Sullivan Robertson, Father Kyle Vance and Father Alexander Wyvill.
Addressing the candidates for ordination in his homily, the cardinal welcomed them on a day when he said “you will become the Lord’s co-workers,” and he thanked their families and friends for supporting them on their vocational journeys.
“The entire Archdiocese of Washington rejoices that we can welcome 10 new priests. The clergy of this local Church in a particular way see in you a bright promise for our tomorrow as their new young brothers,” the cardinal said. Then in a joking aside, he added, “Moreover, I too am excited to ordain 10 new fellow workers – because to tell you the truth, I can really use the help!”
Cardinal Gregory told them that the priesthood “is a treasure that belongs to the entire Church,” and encouraged them as priests to especially care for “those who may be poor, weak or afraid. They must always have the first share of your time, your life and your ministry.”
The rite included calling of the candidates for ordination by name, as they affirmed their commitment to becoming priests. They were presented to the cardinal, who approved the candidates for priesthood. The 10 candidates who had been seated at the base of the sanctuary then turned to face the people in the congregation, who applauded them.
Moments later, each of the men preparing for ordination knelt before the cardinal and promised obedience and respect to him and his successors.
During a litany of saints, the ordination candidates lay prostrate before the altar, as participants at the Mass called upon the intercession of the angels and saints and holy men and women of God. The names chanted included the patron saints of the men and their home parishes, and contemporary saints including St. Teresa of Calcutta and St. John Paul II.
The cardinal then ordained the priests, laying hands on the head of each of them and asking the Holy Spirit to fill them with wisdom and grace. The priests in attendance also lined up to lay hands on the newly ordained men.
Then Cardinal Gregory extended his hands over the candidates and said the prayer of ordination, and each new priest was invested with a stole and chasuble by a priest mentor.
After the cardinal anointed the palms of the newly ordained priests with chrism as they knelt before him, the men were presented with a chalice and a paten, as a sign of their presiding at the Eucharist.
Then the cardinal warmly embraced each new priest as a sign of welcome, and some of the priests also offered them a sign of peace.
The new priests came from varied backgrounds but shared one call.
Three of them came from Southern Maryland, including Father Ryan Braam from St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parish in Leonardtown who is a graduate of St. Mary’s Ryken High School there; Father Alexander Wyvill, also from St. Aloysius and a St. Mary’s Ryken graduate; and Father Kyle Vance, who is from St. John Francis Regis Parish in Hollywood, Maryland.
Two of the new priests come from Montgomery County: Father Peter Mlynarczyk from St. John Neumann Parish in Gaithersburg and Father Thomas Robertson from Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Potomac who is a graduate of Gonzaga College High School in Washington.
Two of the priests’ vocations were fostered by the Catholic Student Center at the University of Maryland in College Park when they were students there: Father Gerald Andrews and Father Vance.
Three of the priests are from Europe and their vocations were inspired by their participation in the Neocatechumenal Way, a Catholic movement: Father Mattia Cortigiani from Italy, Father Carlos de Rodrigo Gutierrez from Spain and Father Grzegorz Okulewicz from Poland.
Father James Morgan, a Baltimore native, served youth and the poor as a lay missionary.
And the new priests came from different academic backgrounds before entering the seminary. Father Andrews studied aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland. Father Braam studied computer science at The Catholic University of America. Father Robertson earned a degree in finance from the University of Delaware. Father Vance earned degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of Maryland, and Father Wyvill majored in philosophy and German at Vanderbilt University.
In his homily, Cardinal Gregory noted that Jesus’s words read that morning from the Gospel of Luke, that “the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few,” reflected the contemporary challenge that businesses are having in finding enough workers, and also the Church’s need to find enough “good, holy, zealous and joyful priests to serve the pastoral needs of our people.”
Every priest, he said, “is called to be a servant minister in the Lord’s vineyard.”
He asked the men to respect and learn from the people whom they serve as priests.
“Even the most humble among the Lord’s people have gifts and talents that will enrich your own life,” the cardinal said. “…The priesthood does not make any one of us better than those that we serve, but helps them and ourselves to seek and find the Lord of all.”
Cardinal Gregory encouraged them to center their lives on prayer and the Eucharist, noting that “the Eucharist is the pinnacle of our worship of God because it brings Christ into people’s lives in a unique fashion.”
Underscoring the importance of a priest’s prayer life, he said, “The more you encounter Jesus on your knees, the more effective will be your service in His name for His people.”
Regarding the homilies they will give, the cardinal told them, “Listen carefully to the words you speak at Mass so that they will reflect your own willingness to hand over your own person, as did Christ for the people of God.”
The cardinal told the men about to be ordained that just as they will grant absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, they must remember to partake of that sacrament themselves, remembering they too are in need of the Lord’s compassion and mercy.
The sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick offers a reminder of the healing ministry of Jesus, he said.
Noting how there have been “too many accounts of the shameful falure on the part of the clergy to be faithful to their promise of celibacy,” the cardinal encouraged the men “to pursue chastity to reconfigure your life to Christ” and offer a counter-sign to those who may have felt doubt and disappointment because of some clergy.
Regarding the obedience that priests promise to their bishop, Cardinal Gregory said, “Even when we might see things differently, we must always love one another.”
Moments before the new priests were ordained, the cardinal closed his homily by encouraged them to “turn often to Mary, the mother of the Church. She knows how to prepare and support good and loving priests, as the first Priest was shaped in her home. May she watch over you each day of what we pray will be a long and happy life of service to the people her Son will send you to love and nourish. Amen.”
The concelebrants at the Mass included the priests in attendance and Washington Auxiliary Bishops Mario Dorsonville and Roy Campbell Jr., and also Bishop William Byrne of Springfield, Massachusetts, formerly a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington who would be preaching the homily the next day at his former parish, Our Lady of Mercy in Potomac, for the first Mass of Father Robertson.
The 10 newly ordained priests joined Cardinal Gregory at the basilica’s altar for the consecration and gave Communion to the people attending the Ordination Mass.
After Communion, the cardinal again offered thanks to the families and friends of the new priests, “for all you did to help them prepare for this day.”
Cardinal Gregory also thanked the participating priests, and added, “Isn’t it wonderful to have 10 (new) fellow workers?”
The cardinal knelt down as the new priests stood around him and offered him a blessing, and as the Mass was ending, the 1o men stood before the altar facing the congregation, to offer their first priestly blessings to the people there.
As the basilica’s choir sang a joyful recessional hymn, the concelebrating priests and bishops processed from the altar, followed at the end by the 1o new priests and the cardinal. As they processed in a single file past the rows of pews in the basilica, the new priests, with their hands folded in prayer, smiled as the people in the congregation offered them loud applause.
Then the 10 men went to the basilica’s lower level, to chapels in its Memorial Hall, to continue offering their first blessings to people, as they began serving their family of faith on their first day as new priests of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
