St. Margaret Mary Church

On Saturday, June 1, 2024, three men were ordained priests for the Diocese of Greensburg at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, the Mother Church of the diocese. They are Frs. Craig Alexander from Harrisburg, David Slusarick from Uniontown, and John Torres from Brazil.

Each man has completed at least six years of seminary formation and will be assigned to different parishes throughout the diocese by Bishop Larry J. Kulick, who ordained them.

During the Liturgy of the Word of the Ordination Mass, each of the candidates is reminded that he will become “a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek” (see Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 7).

The moment during which a man becomes a priest occurs when the ordaining bishop lays his hands on his head while saying absolutely nothing. This is to signify the power of the Holy Spirit effecting a substantial change in the man’s soul, comparable only to transubstantiation at every Mass.

Prior to this moment, the ordinandi had received instructions from the bishop’s homily, encouragement from the congregation when called forward from among them, and the intercession of the saints while lying prostrate at the foot of the altar as the Litany of the Saints was sung.

After ordaining each man individually, the bishop prays a long prayer of ordination during which he prays that these men may “be faithful stewards of [the Lord’s] mysteries, so that [His] people may be renewed in the waters of rebirth and nourished from [the Lord’s] altar; so that sinners may be reconciled and the sick raised up,” Sacraments that can only be administered by ministerial priests.

The new priests are then vested by a priest of their own choosing, sit among the other priests for the remainder of the Liturgy, and begin to concelebrate their first Mass at the altar alongside their bishop. Their hands are also blessed with Chrism Oil signifying the important work that they will do with their hands to “sanctify the Christian people and offer sacrifice to God.” This is why many people will seek “first blessings” from a newly-ordained priest, the first of which he offers to his ordination bishop at the conclusion of the Ordination Mass. - Both non-Scriptural references are from the Roman Pontifical (Pontificale Romanum)