Priests offer congratulations, advice to the 2023 Ordination Class (Video)
After Robert Burkot, JuHyun Andrew Lee, Bernardo Garcia, and Frenel Phanord are ordained to the priesthood on Saturday, May 27, they will celebrate their First Mass and begin their priestly ministry at an archdiocesan parish. What can these new priests look forward to? What can they expect as they begin their ministry?
Jersey Catholic spoke with priests from the ordination classes of 2021 and 2022 to get their perspectives on the first year of priesthood. The following is what they had to say to their brothers:
Father Lynx Soliman – St. Aloysius in Caldwell – Ordination Class of 2021
Congratulations on your ordination to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ! This is indeed an exciting time — not only for you, but also for the Church of Newark.
My brothers, if I could offer a bit of advice in my very short time as a priest, it would be this. Firstly, cultivate and deepen your prayer life. Don’t ever abandon it, even in the midst of the busyness of ministerial life. We need to constantly go back to the source of our vocation and find intimacy with Jesus, especially in the most Holy Eucharist. Stay very close to Our Lady, the Mother of Priests. She will always be there to guide you, protect you, and give you the graces to live your vocation to the fullest.
The second thing I’d say is to seek out good friendships in the priesthood. We can’t walk alone; we need our brothers to accompany us on this journey of service in the Church of Jesus Christ and to His people. Surround yourself with good priests, whom you can relax with, socialize with, pray with, and engage in conversations that will edify, rather than break down.
These are exciting times and joy awaits you, my brothers, in the parishes. They await you because the people of God are waiting for you with an open heart full of love. They are going to love you if you give yourself totally to them, and you will love them in return as a father loves their children. And so, my brothers, until our paths cross in ministerial life, know that I will be praying for you and begging God to bless you and Our Lady to keep you.
Father Lynx Soliman celebrates his First Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark following his ordination in May of 2021.
Father Christian Scalo – St. Joseph in Oradell – Ordination Class of 2021
I wanted to extend my most sincere congratulations to all those men who are being ordained priests. The priesthood is such a truly amazing life, and I have to say, after being ordained two years myself, the priesthood has just given so many opportunities to bring the gift of God’s presence into people’s lives. And we as priests have an opportunity to be present for people in some of the most joyful and also some of the most painful and sorrowful areas of their life. And what a truly privileged gift it is.
If I could give any advice to a newly ordained priest, it would be this. First to always remember who you are as God’s son. God has called each one of us uniquely. We’re all called to His priesthood, but He’s called you with your unique gifts and personality and talents and abilities. And God will use you if you open your heart to Him, to reach out to His people in such beautiful ways.
Secondly, to never be afraid to journey with your people. The road of discipleship has its ups and downs. Sometimes the road is really smooth and easy, and other times it’s a little bit more bumpy. And we’re called to be with our people, as we ourselves walk that road with them.
And never be afraid to meet your people where they are. To bring God’s love and peace, and to allow it to fill their lives with the joy of the Gospel, which is the message that we proclaim.
And so may God bless you in your ministry. May He bless you with many years of a happy priesthood and may He bless the people that you will serve. We are truly grateful for your vocation and look forward to serving with you in the Lord’s Vineyard.
Father Christian Scalo celebrates his First Mass at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Cedar Grove following his ordination in May of 2021.
Father Moris Montoya – Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich in Bayonne – Ordination Class of 2021
What a blessing from the Lord to welcome you into the Ministry of the Priesthood. I no longer call you brother seminarians, but brother priests.
What a grace. What a grace from the Lord. From now on, your new professors, your new mentors, your new teachers will be the people of God, and I invite you to be close to them, to be attentive to them because the Lord will speak to you in them and through them.
The Lord will continue forming you through His people. God nourishes us through His people. But in order to do that, we need to be close to them.
May the Lord keep you close to His heart, and may our Blessed Mother be close to you as you begin your ministry. God bless you.
Father Peter Volz – St. John the Apostle in Linden – Ordination Class of 2022
Congratulations! I had the pleasure of living and studying with you in the seminary, and I am happy to welcome you into a new brotherhood that we can share, the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Enjoy the Ordination, and your first Masses but remember that this is just the beginning. And be consoled that God’s faithfulness to you until this moment is also just the beginning, there is much more to come. I am praying for you all.
Father Peter Volz celebrates his First Mass at Nativity Church in Midland Park following his ordination in May of 2022.
Father David Hinojosa – St. Peter in Belleville – Ordination Class of 2022
I am writing to congratulate those to be newly ordained priests. It fills me with great joy to see the fidelity of God in your vocations to the Sacred Priesthood.
Many have asked me if my “honeymoon” stage is over, and frankly I do not know what is meant by honeymoon. As soon as I was ordained I found myself bound to a wife (the Church) and a father of many children, of all ages and walks of life. It wasn’t that women with post-abortion depression and men at the verge of abandoning their children would wait until I was out of my honeymoon stage to come begging to help; it wasn’t that the people dying in the hospitals would wait for me to finish my honeymoon stage before they asked to be anointed; it wasn’t that the frantic family members of agonizing loved ones would wait for me to finish my honeymoon stage to accompany them with my prayers and presence; it wasn’t that anyone really waited for me to have a honeymoon stage at all. Then it dawned on me… That’s exactly how Jesus’ public ministry began!
It all makes sense if it is in this perspective: we are ordained into the priesthood of Jesus Christ, Victor over sin and death. I realized very quickly that I, David, am not Lord over anything. I am subject to the same temptations, sin and death, that every other man is subject to, yet I have been anointed a priest of Jesus Christ. In administering the sacraments I am another Christ, and I wield the same power of Christ over all these things, for every knee must bend at the name of Jesus. And so I find that I can give my life to all these people who are in need; I can give it because it is no longer my life, but the life of Christ.
This is all clear as day if you pray, so don’t stop praying! It might take some time to adjust to the new rhythm of life called the Priesthood, and as Fr. Miller often told us, the way we pray changes when we become priests. Pray. Even if you just stop for one minute as you walk across the sanctuary in front of the Blessed Sacrament, even if you stop for ten seconds to put yourself in the presence of the Lord before speaking to someone, even if you put a picture of the Divine Mercy and say to yourself “Jesus, I trust in you” every time you pass by it. Pray. I tell my students: Stay close to Christ and you will never be far from Heaven. I tell you: Stay close to prayer and you will never be far from Christ.
Father David Hinojosa celebrates his First Mass at St. Peter Church in Belleville following his ordination in May of 2022.
Father Matthew Gonzalez – St. Bartholomew the Apostle in Scotch Plains – Ordination Class of 2022
Congratulations to Robert, Bernardo, Andrew and Frenel, the priestly ordination class of 2023. I’m so excited to share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ with you and soon call you brother priests. As you continue to prepare for ordination and soon to begin living out your priestly ministry, I think there are three things that will help to fill you with life and fill those you serve with joy.
First is to continue to center your life on prayer, and this will be especially true as you live out the priesthood. Jesus Christ continually prayed to the Father because he knew it was by Him that he was sent and it was from Him that his earthly ministry flowed. And brothers, prayer on top of filling us is the opportunity to exercise our paternity, to be shepherds, to be fathers who pray for the good of the flock.
Second, allow the people to teach you. To draw forth from your heart authentic fatherhood. Allow God’s people to shape your priesthood into a true expression of the heart of Jesus, totally poured out for the life of the world.
And lastly, it’s easy to reserve parts of our hearts for ourselves. Allow God to grant you the grace of a heart poured out. Allow yourself to surrender. To be all in for God’s people. So as you approach the altar of the Lord, know of my prayers for you, and I believe that God is raising up mighty shepherds for the Church and especially here in the Church of Newark.
God bless.
Watch Father Gonzalez reflect on his first year of priesthood in the video below.
Featured image: Father Peter Volz (left) and Father Matthew Gonzalez (right) share a moment together following their ordination on May 18, 2022. (Julio Eduardo Herrera)
