During the June 17 Mass where he ordained the six newest priests of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, Cardinal Wilton Gregory said it was a day “to rejoice in our young priests.”

In his homily at the Mass for the Ordination of Priests at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the cardinal noted the “special joy in looking into the faces of these six men and seeing a brighter future for the Church to come.”

As the Mass began, Cardinal Gregory noted that they gathered that day on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, “and we ask her to watch over these young men. She knows how to form good priests.”

The six men whom he ordained as new priests for the Archdiocese of Washington include:

• Father Martin Joseph Begley, 27, who grew up attending St. Raphael Parish in Rockville and St. Peter’s Parish in Olney. The oldest of seven children, he was homeschooled and then attended the University of Maryland before entering the seminary. Father Begley will celebrate his first Mass on Sunday June 18 at 11:30 a.m. at St. Raphael’s Church.
• Father Taylor Gregory Colwell, 30, grew up in Georgia as a member of the Baptist Church and attended Georgetown University, where he became Catholic. Father Colwell will celebrate his first Mass at St. John Neumann Church in Gaithersburg on June 18 at 11:30 a.m.
• Father John Francis Lado, 25, grew up as a member of St. Patrick Parish in Rockville. The youngest of four children, he was homeschooled and attended The Catholic University of American before entering the seminary. Father Lado will celebrate his first Mass on June 18 at 10 a.m. at St. Patrick Church in Rockville.
• Father Juan Pablo Noboa, 29, is from Quito, Ecuador. He is the oldest of five children and a member of the Neocatechumenal Way. Father Noboa will celebrate his first Mass on June 18 at 11 a.m. at Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Waldorf.
• Father Pablo Andres Villa Jaramillo, 32, is from Buga, Colombia. The oldest of three children, he is a member of the Neocatechumenal Way. Father Villa will celebrate his first Mass on June 18 at 10 a.m. at Nativity Church in Washington, D.C.
• Father Vincent Tinh Vu, 30, is a native of Vietnam who was a member of the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement. After immigrating to the United States, he became a member of Our Lady of Vietnam Parish in Silver Spring. He was a Carmelite brother before becoming a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington. Father Vu will celebrate his first Mass on June 18 at 9 a.m. at Our Lady of Vietnam Church.

Just before the homily, the candidates for ordination were called forth to the sanctuary and presented to the cardinal, who approved the candidates. Then the six men turned around and smiled as they faced the congregation, and the people there responded with sustained applause.

Addressing the men who were about to be ordained, Cardinal Gregory said his homily, “My sons, this day you will begin a new life for and in Jesus Christ.”

The cardinal said that as priests, they would be configured to Christ. “A priest is a man who must live the truth of the Gospel, seek the truth, preach the truth, love the truth and long for the day when all will know the Truth,” he said. “God’s Spirit assures the Church that we will possess the truth and that possession will make us all free. Christ Himself of course is the Truth as he entitled Himself.”

Later he said, “Today you begin living a truth that will empower you to serve the Church with all of your heart.”

Cardinal Gregory was the main celebrant at the Ordination Mass. The concelebrants included Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop emeritus of Washington; Washington Auxiliary Bishops Roy Campbell Jr., Juan Esposito-Garcia and Evelio Menjivar-Ayala; and Bishop Jerome Feudjio, the bishop of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. About 130 priests also concelebrated the Mass, and about 20 deacons participated in the liturgy.

In his homily, the cardinal thanked the new priests’ family members for their love and support and said that would continue to be vitally important for those priests in the future.

Washington’s archbishop encouraged the new priests to pray for the people whom they will serve.

“The Church will soon come alive for you in the faces and through the voices of the people that you will encounter,” he said. “The elderly and the sick, the young and joyful, the couples and young adults who will fill your lives must also become the very image of the Church for which you must pray daily.”

He noted that day they would join the fraternity of priests of the Archdiocese of Washington. “We are a diverse group of men who are novices and veterans, native sons of this local Church and transplants from other communities and cultures,” he said. “…All are priests of Jesus Christ summoned together through the Sacrament of Orders to carry out the mission given to us by the Lord Himself.”

Cardinal Gregory also emphasized that as priests, they would make Christ present to people in the Eucharist.

“You are about to enter into a new and very personal relationship with the Eucharist today,” he said. “From this day forward, the Lord Jesus will commit Himself to use your voice, your hands, indeed your very body to make His Body and Blood available for the People of God.”

He noted that after their ordination, that would be empowered to forgive the sins of others in the name of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and he encouraged them to be gentle and merciful in that ministry and receive that sacrament themselves in order to become “the compassionate and forgiving confessors that Christ calls you to be.”

Cardinal Gregory pointed out that people would begin calling the new priests “Father” that day, “even though you have embraced a life of perpetual chaste celibate love for the Church.” Noting that they will represent Christ to people, the cardinal asked them to “please never violate the trust that people will place in you, because your weaknesses and failings will not merely be your own, but they will frequently impact the way that some people may even believe in or trust in God.”

The cardinal also encouraged the men to be joyful as they carry out their priestly ministry, and preach with conviction and fervor to help inspire people to believe in the truth of God’s Word and live by it.

Cardinal Gregory noted how the priests would make a promise of obedience to him as their bishop during the ordination. “Today our relationship changes. I have become your father, your brother and hopefully eventually even your friend,” the cardinal said. He added, “Your promise of obedience and respect bind me to you and you to me as I hand over to you this day a share of Christ’s priesthood.”

They must work on that relationship together, he said. “I must listen to your hearts, and you must listen to my initiatives to care for the entire Church throughout the Archdiocese of Washington.”

After the homily, the ordinands knelt before the cardinal and promised obedience and respect to him and his successors.

Then the six candidates for priesthood lay prostrate before the altar during a sung litany seeking the intercession of the saints and angels.

As he ordained each of the six men, Cardinal Gregory did the laying on of hands and asked the Holy Spirit to fill the new priests with wisdom and grace. Then all the priests present lay their hands on the candidates. Following that, the cardinal extended his hands over the candidates, saying a prayer of ordination.

Assisted by a priest, each newly ordained priest was vested in a stole and chasuble, the symbols of the office. 

Cardinal Gregory then anointed the hands of the new priests with chrism as they knelt before him.

After offertory gifts were brought to the altar by family members, Cardinal Gregory presented the bread and wine to each of the newly ordained priests as a sign of presiding at the Eucharist.

Then Cardinal Gregory warmly embraced each new priest, and some of the priests in attendance lined up to offer a sign of peace to their new brother priests.

As the Mass continued, the new priests joined Cardinal Gregory at the altar during the consecration and in reciting the Eucharistic prayers. The six men later brought Communion to family members and distributed Communion to the congregation.

After Communion, the choir of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary sang a song of Thanksgiving, “Jesus Went Through All the Towns.”

As the Mass concluded, the six new priests offered a blessing to the cardinal and then stood together before the altar to offer their first blessings to the congregation.

Then as the new priests joined the procession from the altar and walked down the basilica’s center aisle, the congregation erupted in applause for them.

After the Mass, the six men beginning their new lives as priests went to different chapels of the National Shrine’s Upper Church and Memorial Hall, to offer personal blessings to people.