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Four men to be ordained priests
By Roxanne King
Bishop James Conley, apostolic administrator of the Denver Archdiocese, will ordain four men to the priesthood at 10 a.m. May 12 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The men – Deacons Juan Manuel Bonilla, Wojciech Gierasimczyk, Samuel Morehead and Ryan O’Neill — attend the two seminaries of the archdiocese, Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary and St. John Vianney Theological Seminary.
They hail from Ecuador, Poland and Colorado. All the men are being ordained to serve the Denver Archdiocese.
The Redemptoris Mater seminarian deacons, Bonilla and Gierasimczyk, also received missionary training and may be sent, at the ordinary’s discretion, anywhere in the world.
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Juan Manuel Bonilla |
Name: Juan Manuel Bonilla
Born and reared: Ambato, Ecuador
Age: 29
Seminary: Redemptoris Mater
Q: What led you to the priesthood?
A: My older brother went to a Neocatechumenal Way (Vatican approved, parish-based catechumenate) vocational center to discern his vocation. Ultimately, he didn’t attend the ending convivence (retreat). His catechists came to our house to encourage him. Their words, however, spoke to me. … I started going to the vocational center and entered the seminary.
Q: What impelled you to give your life as a priest in a foreign country?
A: In my Neocatechumenal Way community there were priests who were ordained for the Church with a willingness to go anyplace where there is a need. I wanted to give myself to the Lord and live the plan he has for my life. The Second Vatican Council document “Presbyterorum Ordinis” (Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests) speaks about this: “Priests of such dioceses as are rich in vocations should show themselves willing and ready, with the permission of their own ordinaries (bishops), to volunteer for work in other regions, missions or endeavors which are poor in numbers of clergy.” This gave me the desire to give myself to the Lord completely. Before entering the seminary, I had never left home for more than a weekend. One of my first experiences leaving home was to come to the seminary in Denver. I realize this is a miracle of the Lord: God gave me the freedom to answer the call to go wherever he may send me—the freedom to give myself.
Q: What would surprise people to know about you?
A: That my older brother is now in the seminary—so two out of three sons are in the seminary. He attends the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Ecuador.
Q: Do you have a favorite Scripture verse? If so, what is its significance to you?
A: I have many Scripture verses that I really like. One I preach on often is, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16). In Jesus Christ I see the love of God in a clear way, not a figurative way. I see someone who respects my freedom, some one that has loved me regardless of my bad decisions. I see the love of God, which I don’t see anywhere else.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about your priestly ministry?
A: We just celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday (April 29). I am asking the Lord to give me the heart of the Good Shepherd. To be one who gives his life for the sheep, rather than to live for myself. The Church doesn’t just need shepherds, but “Good Shepherds.” This is my expectation: to be a “Good Shepherd” with the help of God.
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Samuel Morehead |
Name: Samuel Morehead
Born and reared: Born in Boulder, reared in Berthoud
Age: 28
Seminary: St. John Vianney
Q: What led you to the priesthood?
A: I first had a notion that God was calling me to a more intense life lived with and for him when I was 13. I received the grace of feeling invited to a deep intimacy with the Lord during prayer in an ancient European abbey while on a school trip. After that, the thought that I might be called to the priesthood emerged at the end of high school and during my three years at CU-Boulder. There was a powerful attraction to the way in which the priest loves his people with the sacrificial, tender love of Christ. I experienced the example of such sacrificial priests. This and the events of my own life led me to consider that God might be calling me to love like that. I came to know with certainty that the intimacy I felt called to as a 13-year-old was the same intimacy that the priest is called to have with Christ the High Priest, as he loves God and serves the Church.
Q: What impelled you to become a priest in a culture so hostile to Christianity?
A: Perhaps it is precisely due to the hostility of the culture that I found the call to be a priest all the more attractive. In a busy, technological and impersonal world such as ours, even for all its apparent conveniences, I knew something to be missing. Even as a teenager, I desired something of a deep intimacy with the Lord that, then, would pour itself out in charity toward those who needed it the most. I have found the call to the priesthood to be a source of authentic freedom, amidst all the world’s false claims of freedom. I can be truly who I was made to be: a man radically in love with God, consecrated to him and in service to his people. I can know joy and share it with others. I say, “Let the world do what it will.” But, then again, if we love God and neighbor generously, I have a feeling that this love will be contagious—even to a hostile world.
Q: What would surprise people to know about you?
A: I enjoy acting—a joy I did not discover until coming to the seminary. I have acted in the seminary play every year during all seven years in the seminary, playing such roles as a cardinal, a Nazi professor, a gambling womanizer, a king and a priest.
Q: Do you have a favorite Scripture verse? If so, what is its significance to you?
A: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). For all of the world’s evils and even those in our own lives, they matter little in the face of God. This verse gives me great confidence and hope in knowing that it is Christ, who, by his incarnation, death and resurrection, has overcome the world in love. I, myself, don’t have to win any victories, invent any perfect system, or save the world. Christ has already done this. Moreover, inasmuch as the light of Christ has already come into this world and continues to shine on until eternity, I have nothing to fear. All I have to do is hope in him and allow him to shine his light through me and my priestly life and vocation.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about your priestly ministry?
A: Right now, I am enthused with the prospect of bringing the mercy of God to his people in the sacrament of reconciliation. What a glorious sacrament this is! Having known Christ’s goodness myself, I long to share this with others as I pronounce the living-giving, freeing words of absolution. Then, I look forward to seeing miracles play themselves out in the life of the faithful.
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Ryan O'Neill |
Name: Ryan O’Neill
Born and reared: Fort Collins; Loveland
Age: 28
Seminary: St. John Vianney
Q: What led you to the priesthood?
A: I began to grow in my faith while at college. I learned to enjoy praying, reading the Bible and going to Mass. I never considered becoming a priest until I was 20. Then, when I was 21, I discerned the Lord calling me to be his priest. I think meeting some holy priests led me to consider priesthood as an option for my life. Then I realized that one could be a priest and be happy in life.
Q: What impelled you to become a priest in a culture so hostile to Christianity?
A: I decided to become a priest partly because the world hates the priesthood—and I have always had a desire to go against the grain. I never liked just following the herd. The priesthood is totally unique and completely counter-cultural. But, primarily, my vocation to the priesthood is how I am giving my life back to God. In my conversion I have been overwhelmed with God’s generosity to me and I feel like my heart will not be content until I give everything back to him.
Q: What would surprise people to know about you?
A: I have a strong nervous reaction to standing up in front of others. I have forced myself to learn how to be a public speaker, but I have a lot of secret distress from serving Mass and giving homilies and talks. I enjoy speaking in public, but it costs me a lot of energy and nerves. I am still learning how to serve Mass in front of everybody and give a homily that feels comfortable.
Q: Do you have a favorite Scripture verse? If so, what is its significance to you?
A: I really like John 14:1, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” These words of Christ bring his peace to my anxious soul. These words are also spoken by Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego, and J.R.R. Tolkien puts these words on the lips of Galadriel while she speaks to Frodo in “The Lord of the Rings.”
Q: What are you most looking forward to about your priestly ministry?
A: I am looking forward to saying Mass, hearing confessions and anointing the sick. I am also looking forward to living in a parish community. I want to walk with the humble, ordinary parishioner and his family as he seeks holiness in this dark difficult world.
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Wojciech Mariusz Gierasimczyk |
Name: Wojciech Mariusz Gierasimczyk
Age: 31
Born and reared: Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland
Seminary: Redemptoris Mater
Q: What led you to the priesthood?
A: The desire to evangelize—to bring Jesus Christ to people. Belonging to the Neocatechumenal Way (a Vatican approved, parish based catechumenate) and experiencing the Celebration of the Word, the celebration of the sacraments—the Eucharist—I wanted to offer the same to people because it saved my life and gave meaning to my existence.
Q: What impelled you to give your life as a priest in a foreign country?
A: Obedience. My vocation came from the Neocatechumenal Way and I was sent by lottery to Denver. I just obeyed God’s choice.
Q: What would surprise people to know about you?
A: I’m not as good as some people think!
Q: Do you have a favorite Scripture verse? If so, what is its significance to you?
A: I like this verse, “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me” (Ps 131:1). There is a great danger of thinking that since I’ve finished seminary I am like a conqueror who is going to convert the whole world. But this psalm reminds me that priesthood is not about making a career—that is, to be a great pastor or a great preacher. Rather, priesthood is about serving. God gives people their talents and skills, but it is also he who offers them a mission and who guides all evangelization. My plans, though they may be very pious and ambitious, can be impediments for God’s work. Therefore, it is important to give first place to God so that he may act. The same psalm concludes with the words, “O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and for evermore” (Ps 131:3).
Q: What are you most looking forward to about your priestly ministry?
A: To celebrate the sacraments and preach the word of God. That’s the purpose of being a priest. Also, to help free people from their problems, their sins and show them God loves them. God is not indifferent; he wants to give them everything. He gave his only Son to us. I’m excited … waiting. God will guide me. I trust he will help me as he did in the seminary. He conquered many problems, many difficulties in my life. He will continue to do that as long as I put myself under his care; that he may act.
To read longer interviews with each ordinand, as conducted prior to their ordination to the diaconate a year ago, click here: http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/5811.
Roxanne King: 303-715-3215; Roxanne.King@archden.org; www.twitter.com/DCRegister
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