'Deep Gratitude'

Cardinal ordains 15 new priests, instructing them to serve the people as God wills

By CLAUDIA McDONNELL

Cardinal Egan ordained 15 priests at St. Patrick's Cathedral May 15 and told them that they must do three things in the way that God wants them done: preach the Gospel, lead the people in prayer, especially at Mass, and serve them generously.

"Do all of this, and I promise you holiness and happiness," he said. He called it "the best of advice," and told the men that it is the advice he received when he offered his first Mass, inscribed in a book given to him by a priest friend.

The cathedral was filled with jubilant relatives and friends of the new priests. The cardinal asked them to keep the men in their prayers.

"They are the future of the Archdiocese of New York and the future of the Church," he said.

Thirteen of the new priests were ordained for the archdiocese; two are members of a religious congregation, the Idente Missionaries of Christ Crucified, who have been serving in the Bronx at Santa Maria parish.

Ordained for the archdiocese were Fathers Patrick F. Buckley, Nicholas E. Callaghan, Michael G. Cedro, William Cleary, James B. Collins, Daniel J. D'Alliessi, Matthew Ernest, Joseph E. Franco, Michael-Changho Moon, Robert J. Morris, John F.X. Palatucci, Peter Pomposello and Michael J. Sullivan. Ordained as Idente Missionaries were Fathers Francisco Sānchez-Ramos, M. Id., and Joseph Tran, M. Id.

Cardinal Egan welcomed the congregation and said that the Mass of ordination "is the most joyful Mass of the year." He said that it is a day of emotion for the new priests and also for him. For the priests, it is "the fulfillment of a dream, the culmination of years of prayer and work," he said. For him, it is "an immense privilege and a powerful encouragement."

He remarked that it was the 24th ordination ceremony he had performed, and the largest group he had ever ordained.

"I tell the Lord of my deep gratitude for these young men who have turned their lives over to the Lord and his Church," he said as the Mass began.

The archdiocesan priests each studied for four years at St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie; the Idente Missionaries took courses there after earning degrees at other institutions. Cardinal Egan thanked Msgr. Peter G. Finn, rector of St. Joseph's; Father Michael Hull, dean of St. John Neumann Residence and Hall, where all but one of the New York priests studied; and the seminary's administrators and faculty.

He also thanked the new priests' parents, grandparents and other family members "who have led these men to the altar."

About 200 priests concelebrated, including Auxiliary Bishops Robert A. Brucato, vicar general; Dominick J. Lagonegro, co-vicar of Orange County; and Patrick V. Ahern, retired as vicar for development.

In his homily, delivered before the Rite of Ordination began, Cardinal Egan said that he had prepared a talk but laid it aside after finding the book that was a gift to him for his first Mass, given by a priest ordained only months earlier. It was inscribed in Latin, and the cardinal said that the words were those of Archbishop Martin J. O'Connor, who had ordained him. They instructed the young priest to "announce the Gospel...offer Holy Mass...(and) serve your people, as the Lord wills."

"As priests we are called to do the work of the Lord," the cardinal said. A "key part" of that call, he continued, is to preach the Gospel "exactly as it was handed down to us," without adding, subtracting or changing anything.

"We are to repeat revelation with all the love, skill and enthusiasm we can muster," he said, but repeating it - not altering it - "is what we have been asked to do."

Turning to the Mass and its place in a priest's life, he told the men to be ordained, "You are most a priest when you offer sacrifice," and the "sacrifice of sacrifices, the prayer of prayers, is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass." The priest is chosen to offer sacrifice as Aaron and Melchisedek were, he added, but the priest offers "the eternal sacrifice of Calvary" as Christ instructed them, so that it never ends but rather extends through time.

Reflecting on the priest's role among the people, the cardinal said, "You and I, as priests, are meant to be servants. We are meant to be available, to forget ourselves, to turn ourselves over to (God) and to his people." Paraphrasing Isaiah, he continued, "The spirit of the Lord is upon us...He has anointed us to heal the brokenhearted, to lead the sinner from sin, to release the captive...to have compassion on the multitude.

"Do this, and everything will fall into place," the cardinal said.

The Rite of Ordination followed the homily. Msgr. Finn, the seminary rector, called the name of each man to be ordained. According to the ritual, the cardinal asked if they had been found worthy, and when the rector assented, the cardinal accepted them for ordination. As the rite progressed, each man promised to fulfill the obligations of priesthood faithfully, and each promised obedience to the cardinal and his successors. During the litany of the saints, they lay prostrate on the sanctuary floor. Then the cardinal laid his hands upon the head of each man, the gesture used in apostolic times that confers priesthood, together with the recitation of the prayer of consecration.

The new priests then were vested. They turned to face the people, who gave them an extended standing ovation. When it concluded, the cardinal anointed their hands and presented the chalice and paten to each, a symbol of their call to celebrate the Eucharist.

Cardinal Egan led the congregation in another long ovation at the end of Mass. He thanked their families again, and he also thanked the Dominican Nuns of Corpus Christi Monastery in the Bronx, whose apostolate includes prayer especially for the priests of the archdiocese.

At the end of Mass, Cardinal Egan knelt in the cathedral sanctuary as he does each year to receive a blessing from each of the newly ordained. After each blessing, he kissed the priest's hands.

Among those attending the ordination were Mary Lou and Jerome Morrissy of Briarcliff, who are friends of Father Ernest's family; Mrs. Morrissy said that the new priests are "the hope of the future."

"We must pray for them," she said. "It's not an easy time to be a priest." She added, "I'm happy and surprised that so many were ordained. I fear for the future of our Church because we don't have the priests we need. I hope that this is an upswing in vocations."

Her husband said that his prayer for the new priests is the biblical injunction "Be not afraid."

"We're all concerned about our priests, stretched thin as they are," he said. "We worry about them and pray for them."

Mary Ryan is the office manager at St. Patrick's parish in Armonk, where Father Morris served summers as a seminarian. She speculated that there are fewer priests today because of a decline in spirituality.

"The country has gotten away from spirituality," she said. If people gave more importance to spirituality in their lives, she added, more children might see priesthood "as something they might want to do with their lives."

Gerry and Jim Downey are neighbors of Father Cleary's family in the Bronx.

"It's great to see so many young men dedicating their lives to the Lord and his work," Downey said.