Ten Ordained in Omaha

On Saturday, May 26th, 2018, His Excellency the Most Reverend Alexander Sample, Archbishop of Portland, conferred the holy priesthood upon ten deacons from Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary.

The ceremony took place at 10 o’clock in the morning at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha, the beautiful early summer day providing a fitting backdrop for the joy of the event. The deacons processed into the cathedral, their priestly vestments draped over their left arm, followed by the Archbishop and the other sacred ministers, who were vested in the red of the Holy Spirit for the Saturday of Pentecost. The faithful came in large numbers, filling the cathedral to witness the beautiful and solemn ceremony of ordination and to attend the Pontifical Mass that accompanied it.

An ordination is truly an extraordinary event to behold, the various stages involved in the imparting of the Sacrament offering a beautiful illustration of the transformation that is taking place. One particularly striking element is the total prostration of the ordinandi before the altar while the Litany of the Saints is sung by the whole congregation, a posture of both total reverence and prayer, which also symbolizes the complete offering that they are making of themselves to God. Another notable feature is the consecration of the hands of the ordinandi with holy oil. The oil is applied to their hands to represent the unique holiness of those hands, which will henceforth transform bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. The new priest’s hands are afterwards bound with the manutergium, a white piece of cloth that soaks up the excess oil. This, in accordance with an ancient tradition, is later given to the priest’s mother. Upon her death the mother is buried with this cloth, the tradition holding that, at her judgment, when Our Lord asks her what she has done for Him in her life on earth, she will present it to Him and say, “I have given you a priest.”

The 2018 ordinandi for the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter:

Fr. Martin Adams, Hayden Lake, Idaho
Fr. Stephen Braun, Sugar Land, Texas
Fr. Michael Cunningham, Spartanburg, South Carolina
Fr. Christopher Fitzpatrick, Enumclaw, Washington
Fr. Graham Latimer, Edmond, Oklahoma
Fr. Aaron Liebert, Westby, Wisconsin
Fr. Daniel Mould, Timaru, New Zealand
Fr. Martin Rangel-Garcia, Tornillo, Texas
Fr. Andrew Rapoport, Paso Robles, California
Fr. Richard Wallace, Phoenix, Arizona

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter gives thanks to God as we rejoice in the ordination of these ten new priests and in the great things God has in store for them. Please join us in praying for them as they begin their new work, and in praying for Deacon Seth Phipps who will be ordained on June 9th in Warrington, England.

If you were not able to attend in person or watch the live webcast, video of the ordinations will be available soon. Over the next several weeks we will also be publishing the vocation stories of all eleven priests, so stay tuned!