For years, Father Nicholas Weiss watched friends lie prostrate before the altar during the Litany of the Saints and thought, “I know that guy. He’s my good friend, and he’s being ordained a priest.”
After a leap of faith led him to the seminary and — almost a decade of formation later — to his ordination as a priest of the Diocese of Dallas on May 23, Father Jeremy Maness has some well-earned wisdom for anyone discerning a vocation: Don’t let uncertainty about the destination delay the journey.
In a retreat hall in Porto San Giorgio, Italy, baskets sat at the front of the room — one filled with the names of Catholic dioceses around the world, the other with the names of aspiring seminarians willing to go wherever the Church sent them.
Bishop Edward J. Burns ordained three men to the priesthood May 23 at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church, urging them to embrace lives of sacrificial service, spiritual fatherhood, and fidelity to Christ as they begin ministry in the Diocese of Dallas.
Priests are called each day to leave the doors of the Church open to a “suffering humanity” in need and not “be an obstacle to those who wish to enter,” Pope Leo XIV told 10 deacons just before ordaining them to the priesthood.
This spring, the U.S. will see more than 400 men ordained to the priesthood, both diocesan and religious.
Two prominent Catholic cardinals have expressed their profound concern and sorrow over a recently announced decision by the Society of St. Pius X — which rejects the authority of the Second Vatican Council — to ordain bishops this summer without papal approval.
After nine years, the moment Father Peter Whitfield had been waiting for had finally arrived; he would celebrate Mass for the first time.
When Father Allen-Michael Muench recalled his journey to the priesthood, he framed the story as a series of providential relationships — a succession of friendships and mentorships that, through the grace of God, led him to his priestly ordination at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Plano on May 24.
Growing up in a missionary family prepared Father David Piquer’s heart so he would confidently decide during his adolescence that he wanted to follow God.