Surrounded by the prayers of a standing-room only congregation of priests, religious and lay faithful, and through the Laying on of Hands and the Prayer o Ordination, four men were ordained to the priesthood on June 1.
St. Patrick Cathedral was filled with overjoyed family, friends and faithful; jubilant hymns; and incense carrying prayers to heaven for the four new priests: Father Matthew Cannon, Father Samuel Miller, Father Andrew St. Hilaire and Father Joshua Weaver.
“In these challenging days for the Church, you and I look for signs of hope. We need confirmation for new beginnings and a new vitality in our Church,” Bishop Ronald Gainer said in his homily. “This morning, my brothers and sisters, we are given that evidence in the willingness, the courage, the trust and the obedience of your sons and grandsons, our brothers and friends, who present themselves now for priestly ordination.”
Surrounded by the prayers of a standing-room only congregation of priests, religious and lay faithful, and through the Laying on of Hands and the Prayer o Ordination, four men were ordained to the priesthood on June 1.
St. Patrick Cathedral was filled with overjoyed family, friends and faithful; jubilant hymns; and incense carrying prayers to heaven for the four new priests: Father Matthew Cannon, Father Samuel Miller, Father Andrew St. Hilaire and Father Joshua Weaver.
“In these challenging days for the Church, you and I look for signs of hope. We need confirmation for new beginnings and a new vitality in our Church,” Bishop Ronald Gainer said in his homily. “This morning, my brothers and sisters, we are given that evidence in the willingness, the courage, the trust and the obedience of your sons and grandsons, our brothers and friends, who present themselves now for priestly ordination.”
The assignments for the new priests were announced at the conclusion of the holy and sacred Mass: Father Cannon, parochial vicar at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Harrisburg; Father Miller, parochial vicar at Good Shepherd Parish in Camp Hill; Father St. Hilaire, parochial vicar at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Gettysburg and campus minister at Gettysburg College; and Father Weaver, parochial vicar at St. Catherine Labouré Parish in Harrisburg and chaplain, Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg.
“Our four brothers have given every indication that this is God’s will for them,” Bishop Gainer said. “And, as in the Church’s earliest days, so also today, through the imposition of the hands of the apostles, and the hands of their successors, and through the invocation of God, the Holy Spirit, they are about to be ordained into the one priesthood, the priesthood of Jesus Christ, in order to bring the Word of God, the new life of the sacraments and the example of Jesus’ humble service to grace the lives of others.”
Watch a full-length video of the Mass on the Diocese’s YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/3FL2vBwyYDA.
By Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness
