Vocations continue to rise in the diocese with three new priests ordained to the Sacred Order of Presbyter on Saturday, May 17 at Westerville St. Paul the Apostle Church.
Bishop Earl Fernandes ordained Fathers Kevin Girardi, Joseph Rolwing and Samuel Severance to the priesthood during a Mass that filled the church with hundreds of the faithful in attendance. Bishop Fernandes was joined by several priests and deacons from across the diocese. Major concelebrants included Bishops Emeriti James Griffin and Frederick Campbell.
Fathers Girardi, Rolwing and Severance completed their studies earlier this month at the Pontifical College Josephinum.
The Rite of Ordination, in which the three men were ordained to the priesthood in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, began with the presentation and election of the candidates.
Father William Hahn, the diocesan vicar general and director of priestly life and vocations, presented the candidates to the bishop and testified that they had been found worthy for ordination to the priesthood. The bishop then formally chose, or elected, the three men for the Sacred Order of Presbyter.
The congregation responded joyfully by proclaiming, “Thanks be to God.”
Bishop Fernandes told the men in his homily that today begins their mission. The candidates must commit to personal conversion. Conversion, he explained, is the first work of the Holy Spirit.
He said such an act requires a daily personal conversion of Christ, an openness to being completely taken by God and a willingness to offer themselves. Like Christ, the bishop said, the candidates’ “yes” must be clear, decisive and free.
“Jesus was the ‘yes’ of the Father to humanity,” Bishop Fernandes said. “He was always a ‘yes’ and never a ‘no’ and never a ‘maybe’ because no one wants to give their life over for a ‘maybe.’ He made a decisive choice for us, and today, you make a decisive choice for Him.”
The bishop acknowledged that it might seem intimidating as new, young priests to offer advice and counsel to those who seem wiser. He assured the elect that God will give them the strength and the Holy Spirit will lead. Priestly maturity, he said, comes from the Holy Spirit.
He told the candidates that, with their “yes,” they must have confidence and faith in what the Lord can do in and through them. He encouraged the elect to not be afraid.
The priesthood is a challenging vocation, the bishop acknowledged, but it is in their incapacities, he told the candidates, that Christ chooses them. The Lord is greater than their weaknesses and sins.
“Whatever may come after, do not forget the before,” Bishop Fernandes said. “He saw you, He chose you to be instruments of salvation for others.”
Bishop Fernandes also emphasized the high dignity of the call to the priesthood. He reminded the candidates that through no merit of their own God called them to the vocation. He encouraged them to have faith in God’s power at work in them.
The bishop asked the faithful to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the men and the diocese.
After the homily, the men were examined by the bishop. He questioned the elect about their willingness to undertake and faithfully fulfill the ministry to which they were about to be ordained. They were also examined about their ability to unite themselves more closely to Christ. The candidates responded to each question with an “I do.”
The elect then knelt before the bishop. They each promised obedience to him and his successors.
The Litany of Supplication followed. The congregation and clergy, facing the tabernacle, repeated after the cantor, imploring the Lord’s mercy as well as the intercession of the Blessed Mother and the saints. The candidates laid prostrate on the floor of the church during the litany.
The candidates then came forward for the laying on of hands. The bishop laid his hands on the head of each candidate while invoking the Holy Spirit. The act is an ancient apostolic gesture of ordination.
Bishop Fernandes prayed a prayer of ordination, asking God to raise the men to the priesthood. The men were ordained priests by the imposition of the bishop’s hands and prayer of ordination.
Priests who were present also came forward to impose their hands on each candidate’s head.
The newly ordained were then vested with a priestly stole, which is symbolic of priestly power or authority, and chasuble, which is worn above the other vestments, symbolizing the virtue of charity. A priest’s stole is draped across his chest while a deacon wears a stole over his shoulder.
The bishop anointed the hands of the newly ordained with sacred chrism, signifying their sharing in Christ’s sanctifying ministry.
Bishop Fernandes also extended a greeting of peace to the new priests as a sign that they are coworkers in the ministry of the Church. Other priests in attendance came forward to extend the “fraternal kiss of peace” to the newly ordained as well.
The new priests received their priest assignments from the bishop, which were announced during the Mass.
Father Girardi will serve at St. Paul the Apostle. Father Rolwing is assigned to Columbus St. Peter-Powell St. Joan of Arc Church. Father Severance will serve at Hilliard St. Brendan the Navigator.
Father Girardi, 31, is from Columbus Our Lady of Victory Church. His assignments during seminary included Sunbury St. John Neumann, Newark St. Francis de Sales, Mount Vernon St. Vincent de Paul, Danville St. Luke and St. Paul the Apostle churches. He also spent a summer serving with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in the Bronx, New York.
Father Rolwing, 27, is from New Albany Church of the Resurrection. His assignments included Marion St. Mary and Cardington Sacred Hearts, Zoar Holy Trinity and Dover St. Joseph, Columbus Christ the King and St. Cecilia churches.
Father Severance, 29, is from Columbus Holy Family Church. His seminary assignments included Zanesville St. Thomas and St. Nicholas and Columbus Our Lady of Peace churches, and Spanish immersions in Mexico and Columbus.