Week
of
Jun 5, 2002
Inside the Register
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Archbishop Chaput ordains three priests for the archdiocese
From Poland, Texas and New Mexico, three to serve Church in Northern Colorado
By Alwen Bledsoe
Their faces, grave with concentration and prayer, broke into joy as Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., introduced the new priests to a nearly packed Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception June 1. Adorned in their new priestly robes, Frank Lomica Jr., John Paul Leyba and Krzysztof Misiura, received raucous applause that split the reverent silence of the cathedral into loud joy.
Earlier
the archbishop commented on the Old Testament reading, Jeremiah 1:4-9.
He told the priests they had been set aside for the priesthood even before
their conceptions.
"Each of us here today is the result of God imagining us into being before we came to exist in the womb of our mothers, so none of us is an accident," he said. "Each of us is God's choice, and each of us was loved into existence in the rich imagination of God. In a very special way this is true, of course, for the priests this morning who were imagined into existence by God for this day.
"My dear brothers," he later continued, "God has loved you very much. He has called you through his mercy to this ministry. May you be open and welcoming to the grace he is about to bestow on you."
Each received the kiss of peace from the many priests in attendance, and were welcomed to the priesthood with beaming smiles, enthusiastic hugs, and the laying on of hands.
The glee setting the new priests' faces aglow flickered into reverence as Archbishop Chaput ended the ceremony by kneeling before them, asking for the first priestly blessing the three had ever given.
Perhaps no one knew better than their families what longings, prayers and sacrifices were finally answered for the three in the long-awaited ceremony.
Lomica, whose huge grin constantly betrayed boyish excitement, had talked of being a priest from the age of 17, said his mother, Marilyn Jackson. Now nearly 37, Lomica has finally become what he always wanted, she added.
"It was wonderful, just so joyful," she exclaimed. "I can't explain how it felt. Knowing he was so happy, it really made me happy."
Lomica's sister Tara Cornelius, remembered with a smile the youthful days when Lomica would play "church" with his sisters. With crumbs of crumpled bread, the young Lomica served "Communion" to his sisters as they sang hymns, she said.
"That tells you how long he's wanted to be a priest," Cornelius added with a laugh.
Lomica is the second priest ever to graduate from Denver's St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, now in its third year. Leyba, 37, graduated from Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Ill., and Misiura, 28, from Saints Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Mich. They hearken from both inside and outside the United States: Lomica from Texas, Leyba from New Mexico and Misiura from Poland.
At the end of the ordination, the archbishop briefly referred to the sex abuse scandal that has recently shaken the American Church.
"Our Church has experienced great difficulties in the last few weeks that have caused pain and embarrassment," he said, later adding: "But in the midst of this, what happiness God surprises us with. He blesses us and gives us new priests. Most of all, we have gratitude to God from whom all blessings come."
It may be a difficult time to enter the priesthood, but the new priests seemed to approach the challenge with hopeful faith.
"It is true that it's difficult to be ordained in the middle of such a big crisis in the Catholic Church," Misiura said. "But a time of crisis is also a time of opportunity for cleansing. It is a great time, though a very painful time right now."
Leyba agreed.
"I see it, although being incredibly painful, I see it as a purification of the Church," he said. "I also see it as a sort of call to attention to the responsibility everybody in ministry has, not only concerning our own spiritual life and our own spiritual health, but an understanding that everything we do affects everyone else. We don't live our own lives."
The men's proud families said they will make excellent priests.
George Maestas is Leyba's first cousin and worked with him when he was an aerospace engineer at Hughes Aircraft in Aurora. Though Leyba's move to the priesthood came as a surprise, Maestas said it was also a "heartening" choice.
"I think he'll make a very good priest," Maestas said. "He's one that listens and definitely has the best interest of everyone (at heart). He's a very giving person."
Misiura's father, Marian, speaking through a translator, was also confident that his son would serve the archdiocese well.
"Krzysztof is very gifted," he said, noting the speed with which his son had become fluent in English. "He's very dedicated. He should make a good priest."
Pope's words during visit to Poland inspired new priest's call
It took Krzysztof Misiura nine years and thousands of miles to realize his vocation: the priesthood in Denver. Born in Poland, Misiura was a member of the Society of Christ, a religious order in Poland, when a visit from a Michigan vocations director inspired him to attend seminary at Saints Cyril and Methodius in Orchard Lake, Mich.
Misiura's desire to be a priest can perhaps be summed up in the words of Poland's favorite child: Pope John Paul II. During a visit to Poland, the pope spoke to Poland's youth in 1978, Misiura said. When Misiura later heard the talk on tape, one phrase in particular inspired him.
Translating from the Polish, he quoted, "`Today Jesus passes by your life and calls you to follow him. Do not postpone your decision. Start to follow him today.'"
In fact, the pope's words and thoughts seem to have saturated Misiura's faith. As he talks about discerning his vocation, he turns to the pope's book "Gift and Mystery: On the Fiftieth Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination."
"It's a big mystery," Misiura said, later adding. "You can't describe it. It's only known to God and the person called. You can't put it into words. You just feel it and, with God's help, just know. It's a gift from God."
After six years in the United States, Misiura is getting acclimated to the U.S. Church and has come to appreciate the symbiotic relationship of the Western and Eastern Church.
"It's like when the pope was talking about Eastern and Western cultures like two lungs of one body. They sometimes breathe differently, but they have to support each other."
The Eastern European Church has supported the U.S. Church, slim on priests, with its vocations, and the Western Church, he added, supported the Eastern Church during the years of oppressive Communist regimes.
Misiura's first priestly assignment is as parochial vicar of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
"I'm looking forward to working there," he said. "It will take me a lifetime probably to get accustomed to such a different church. It's not a regular church. It's the mother of all churches in the dioceses. It's a lot of responsibility."
Despite the new responsibilities, Misiura is also looking forward to ministering to his parishioners.
"Just to serve people brings me joy, and I hope it brings them joy too," he said.
And as an avid lover of hiking, roller-blading, and the Colorado climate, Misiura's loving his new home.
"I'd never been here when I chose (Denver)," he said. "But from the first time I came, I've never regretted my decision. I thought, `This is it.'... The mountains and hills always remind me of the mystery of God because of how huge they are. (When I) hike to the top of a mountain, I feel the greatness of God's creation."
Marriage preparation led new priest to discern call
John Paul Leyba very nearly chose a very different life for himself before concluding God was calling him to the priesthood. In fact, it wasn't until he and his fiancée were in the midst of marriage preparation that his feeling that he might have a vocation to the priesthood became too acute to ignore. Fortunately, his fiancée, a devout Catholic herself, had once considered a vocation as a nun and so understood his dilemma, Leyba said. The engagement was put on hold, Leyba found a spiritual director, and a year-and-a-half later he entered Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Ill. At the time, 1997, Denver did not have a seminary, he added.
It officially took five years of schooling and a year-and-a-half of discernment to get Leyba to his ordination June 1, but really, his vocation was a lifetime in the making, he said.
It was in college and at the urging of Protestant friends that Leyba began to re-examine his Catholic faith, he added. "I went back and looked at it and asked questions I hadn't before," he explained. "I came out of it more convinced the Church was the Church Jesus established through St. Peter and that was where I needed to be." As his relationship with Christ grew, so did his relationship with the Church until the two entwined more fully than ever in his renewed Catholic faith. "The relationship with Christ Jesus is the air that I breath, the life that I live, everything that gives me life is Jesus Christ, and for me there's nothing I'd rather do than try to bring other people to that same relationship, and whatever God wants me to do I'll do it," he said. "So if that means through marriage, that's fine, if it means through (the priesthood), that's what I'll do, and I trust that everything else will work itself out." Leyba grew up in New Mexico, but a job at Hughes Aircraft in Aurora brought Leyba to Colorado. After five years in Illinois, he's back and will be taking on the position of parochial vicar at St. Thomas More in Centennial. "I'm not sure I'd ever truly feel prepared, but as with everything else, it's just an issue of deciding to rely on the grace of God," he said. "I could go to school forever. The more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. By the grace of God, I'm prepared. I'll do alright." New priest inspired by selfless service of othersIt was in junior high that Frank Lomica first considered the priesthood. It began with his service as an altar boy, but really flourished when he began to accompany his local priest on sick calls. "It was very impressive to me to see the priest interacting with people away from church, seeing how appreciative people are to the priest for taking the sacraments, how much that could help them in illness and problems," Lomica said. That and other glimpses into the lives of loving priests have shaped Lomica's desire to enter the priesthood and have defined how he understands his new job as a priest. The example of many faithful priests have inspired Lomica. For instance, he said, "when you see a priest who gives of himself totally, listens to somebody and that person has their full attention, (or) see other priests at prayer." Now he hopes to himself be an example of self-giving love to the Church in Denver, especially at a time when the American Church is beleaguered by scandal, he said. "The priesthood is all about bringing the self and giving the self totally to the Church and totally to God so that he can use you in the way he has planned," Lomica explained. Lomica grew up in Baytown, Texas, about 30 miles east of Houston. He attended college at University of St. Thomas in Houston and earned his bachelor's degree in theology there before coming to Denver where he attended St. John Vianney Theological Seminary for four years and was ordained June 1. He was drawn to the Denver seminary, he said, because of what he considers the program's excellent blend of academic and spiritual formation. Lomica has spent the last year as a deacon at Our Lady of Lourdes and will now take on a position as parochial vicar of St. Mary in Littleton. "I just hope to be a good priest," Lomica said. "Being able to serve God's people, to me, is what it's about. I just hope I can serve them well and help lead them to God." He considers his new life as a priest a gift from God, he said. "Our very life is a gift," Lomica said. "The priesthood is a gift. Marriage is a gift. Single life can be a gift. We just have to see what gift God is giving us and then work with that, be thankful for it and work with him to give that gift to others."