Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Mary’s of the Lake:

This year our Green Bay Diocese will joyfully have three new priests throughvthe Sacrament of Ordination, which will take place 10 AM Saturday
June 30th at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay. One of the three
candidates is Deacon Kyle Sladek (who last Summer spent a few months for pastoral experience in our four churches). AGAIN, WE ARE ESPECIALLY INVITED TO GO TO THE CATHEDRAL FOR THE ORDINATION to rejoice & to pray for the ordinands. You may want to consider carpooling. Your prayers and presence at the Ordination will mean a lot to Father Kyle, I am sure.

The ORDINATION CEREMONY to the priesthood includes various rituals, rich in meaning and history. Below I’d like to single out four of them:

1.- PROMISEOFTHEELECT:Thecandidates,inthepresence of the Bishop and the faithful, express their resolve to carry out their priestly duties in accord with the mind of Christ and of the Church under the direction of the Bishop.

2.- PROSTRATION: During the ‘Litany of the Saints’, those to be ordained lay prostrate before the Altar. Prostration is a sign of humility, vulnerability, dependence upon and reverence for God from whom comes priestly ministry. This is also a symbolic moment of ‘dying and rising’ (dying to selfishness & rising to new life as a priest).

3.- LAYINGONOFHANDS&PRAYEROFORDINATION:
This is the essential rite of the Sacrament –i.e. when the ordination takes place. By the ritual of laying on of hands, in solemn silence, the ordaining bishop and the priests present invoke the Holy Spirit to be upon the ones to be ordained, giving them a sacred character and setting them apart for the designated ministry. The candidates are prayed for in a special way, so that they may preach, celebrate the mysteries, and gather people in Christ, while being mindful of the poor, the sick, the dying and the lost...

4.- ANOINTINGOFTHEHANDSOFTHEORDINANDS. Anointing with oil stems from the Old Testament and indicates that someone or something is being set apart for a sacred duty. The Anointing of the hands signifies that the hands of the newly-ordained priest are being prepared for the sacred duties and vessels which will be part of the priestly ministry --e.g. offering the bread and the wine, anointing the sick and blessing people.

Please continue to pray for Deacon Kyle & the other two candidates. Please also continue to pray for an increase of those who respond to the call to priesthood, diaconate and religious life, as well as an increase of happiness in marriage and single life.

 

Fr. Philip