“All of your gifts — your gift of using
language, your gifts of practical and theo-
retical intelligence, your gifts of energy
and charm and integrity and zeal, even
the limits you feel about those gifts — by
the imposition of hands and the conse-
cration prayer, all of this is given to the
mission. Nothing is held back. It all be-
longs to this great task of preaching the
good news to all creatures and advancing
the kingdom of God,” Archbishop Vi-
gneron said in his homily.
During the ordination rite, Archbishop
Vigneron asked Msgr. Todd Lajiness, rec-
tor of Sacred Heart Major Seminary, to
confirm the three candidates’ readiness
to enter the priesthood. Following his
confirmation, they each promised faith-
fulness and obedience, and lay prostrate
during the litany of supplication. This
action symbolized a death to self as each
man embraced his new life as a priest.
After the Archbishop laid his hands
on them and ordained the new priests,
they were vested with stole and chasuble.
He anointed their hands with the Holy
Chrism and presented them with the
gifts of bread and wine, finishing the rite
of ordination.
Fr. John Maksym spoke in closing on
behalf of his newly-ordained brothers.
“We thank Almighty God for calling
us to tend to the vineyard and to endeav-
or daily to protect the eternal souls of his
wonderful people,” Fr. Maksym said.
Fr. Mark Livingston serves at St. John
Neumann Parish in Canton, Fr. Chris-
topher Muer serves at Our Lady of the
Lakes Parish in Waterford, and Fr. John
Maksym serves at St. Joseph the Worker
Parish in Lake Orion.
Sacred Heart is a regional seminary, ed-
ucating and forming tomorrow’s priests
for dioceses within the state of Michigan,
throughout the U.S. and internation-
ally. Beside the Detroit ordinations, nine
more April graduates of the seminary be-
came priests this spring. They are:
• F
r. Alex Colautti, CC, for the Com-
panions of the Cross (May 5),
• Fr. Joshua Erickson for the Diocese
of Steubenville (May 18),
• Fr. Adam Maher for the Diocese of
Saginaw (June 1),
• Fr. Dustin Larson for the Diocese
of Marquette (June 1),
• F
r. Th ế Hoàng and Fr. Brian Mul-
ligan for the Diocese of Winona-
Rochester (June 8),
• Fr. John Machiorlatti for the Dio-
cese of Lansing (June 9), and
• F
r. Fadie Gorgies and Fr. John Jad-
dou for the Chaldean Eparchy of St.
Thomas (June 30).
Maggie Fischer is a Catholic freelance writer and editor based in Omaha, Nebraska.
Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron
prays over the newly ordained
priests during their ordination
Mass at the Cathedral of the
Most Blessed Sacrament on
May 19.
shms.edu
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