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Brother John Aherne, O.F.M., will be ordained to the priesthood in a Mass at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan Saturday, June 23.
Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez, O.F.M., of San Juan, Puerto Rico, will be the celebrant of the 11 a.m. Mass.
Following ordination, the new priest will be assigned to St. Mary’s parish in Pompton Lakes, N.J. Brother Aherne, a Queens native, entered the Holy Name Province in 2010 and professed final vows in 2016. He was ordained a transitional deacon last year.
“I have always felt called to the priesthood,” Brother Aherne said. “The parish where I grew up—Transfiguration Church in Maspeth, Queens—was staffed by kind, generous, prayerful men who were terrific role models. They also sparked within me a love for the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church, a love that has been kindled by the many Holy Name friar-priests I’ve gotten to know.”
Brother Aherne, who holds a bachelor’s degree in English from New York University, studied for the priesthood at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where he received a master of divinity degree.
