Three new priests to be ordained by Cardinal Tobin on May 24
On Saturday, May 24, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., Archbishop of Newark, will ordain three men as priests for the archdiocese. The ordination Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, N.J., also marks the Jubilee of Priests. Part of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, the celebration shines a light on those ordained men who minister to the Church in word and sacrament.
The three deacons who will enter the brotherhood of priests on Saturday have come to their vocations after working in local parishes or experiencing missionary work in faraway places. They share a sense of excitement and hope for the future, along with an awareness of their dependence on God and His people to support them in their ministries.
Here are their stories:
Deacon Michael Bollinger
Home parish: Saint Charles Borromeo Parish, Philadelphia, PA
Deacon Michael Bollinger told Jersey Catholic that he experienced his priestly vocation as given to him by the Lord. He was a college student at Virginia Tech “when I heard God calling me.”
“Thanks to the support and help of priests, I discerned that going to the seminary would be the next best step,” he explained
While acknowledging the challenges of today, Deacon Bollinger said that God “has given me an answer to challenging times in Jesus Christ. He is the answer to suffering, difficulty, anguish, etc.” Deacon Bollinger, who served for the past year at Saint Theresa Parish in Kenilworth, NJ, stated that his faith helps him be at peace about the future.
“Going forward, I know that if I am with Christ, then whatever comes will be part of his plan of salvation for me,” he said.
Before his diaconate ordination last year, Deacon Bollinger pointed to Saint Augustine as a source of inspiration and support.
“The life of Saint Augustine has accompanied me during my whole discernment,” he said, explaining that the teaching of the great saint had been a help “because it emphasizes the role of God’s grace. Without grace, I would not be in the Church, let alone be following this vocation.”
Remarkably, he and his brother Robert independently discerned their calls to the priesthood. Father Robert Bollinger was ordained on May 17 as a priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, one week before his older brother.
When asked what message he had for his future parish, he said: “I am very happy to serve wherever God is calling me to.”
Deacon Giovanni Cuzziol
Home parishes: Santa Maria Goretti, Rome, Italy, and Saint John the Evangelist, Bergenfield, NJ.
Deacon Giovanni Cuzziol said that belonging to the Neocatechumenal Way helped him to discern his priestly calling.
“My Neocatechumenal community and my catechists were instrumental in helping me discover that God loves me the way I am, with all my sins and weaknesses,” he said. “They helped me—and still help me—to answer God’s call to be truly His disciple.”
Before entering the seminary, Deacon Cuzziol obtained a B.A. in political science from La Sapienza University in Rome. He went on to earn his master’s degree in criminal justice at Farleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck. He also spent a missionary year in Africa, an experience he said was “fundamental” for confirming his call to the priesthood.
Deacon Cuzziol, who served for the last year at Saint Joseph the Carpenter Church in Roselle, NJ, is optimistic about the road ahead. “This is a great adventure, and I’m looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me,” he said.
Last year he told Jersey Catholic that he found vocational support from three holy examples: Saint Francis Xavier, who “helped me see the beauty of the mission and the priesthood at the service of evangelization”; Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, “because of her zeal and passion for the Lord’s call and work”; and Saint Charles de Foucauld, “because of his love for Christ, so deep and so intense that he never felt alone even in the middle of the Sahara Desert.”
Deacon Cuzziol’s message for his future parish is simple: “God loves you and He’s looking for you, to make you happy and give you peace.”
Deacon Raymond Francis Walsh
Home parish: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Ridgewood, NJ
Deacon Raymond Francis Walsh, while in his mid-twenties, sensed that God might be calling him to a different lifestyle than his peers.
“When most of my friends were embarking on their young professional lives and spending their off-time enjoying nightlife and travel, I was gravitating toward the parish more and more,” he told Jersey Catholic.
He said that while working as a coordinator of religious education at Holy Name Parish in Valley Stream, NY, “I began discerning that Christ was leading me to the priesthood,” a calling that he noted came “despite my weaknesses and sins.”
Deacon Walsh said that catechists of the Neocatechumenal Way were essential to his vocational journey because they announced to him “Christ’s victory over death, and this opened my heart to wherever He would lead me.”
Working as an itinerant missionary in Minnesota and North Dakota during his seminary years was also a formative experience.
“I saw firsthand what it means to be a priest for the new evangelization and experienced the joy that comes from living in communion with others and laying down one’s life for the mission of the Gospel,” he explained.
Deacon Walsh, who earned a B.A. in theology with a minor in philosophy from Fordham University before entering the seminary, spent the last year serving at Saint Francis de Sales Parish in Lodi, NJ.
Prior to his diaconate ordination last year, he told Jersey Catholic that he had been particularly influenced by Saints John the Baptist, Therese of Lisieux, and Charles de Foucauld, due to “their humility—how they sought to be small and how, from that smallness, they drew close to Christ, who opened and magnified their hearts to shine forth the love of God.”
Deacon Walsh’s message to his future parish is the following: “I would like to ask the members of my future assigned parish to pray that God may grant me the grace to serve with love. I am very much looking forward to getting to know the parishioners, to witness the action of God in their lives and to experience the communion that God has the power to create in a parish.”
The Jubilee for Priests and Priesthood Ordinations will be celebrated at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Saturday, May 24 at 10 a.m. You can follow the liturgy on livestream here.
