CHARLOTTE — Six Diocese of Charlotte seminarians stood before Bishop Peter Jugis Thursday at St. Patrick Cathedral and affirmed their desire to advance along the path toward the priesthood.
Kolbe Flood, James Johnson IV, Patrick Martin, Emanuel Martinez, Connor White and Bailey Van Nosdall all recently graduated from St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly and will now move on to studies at a major seminary this fall.
The special Mass July 6 featuring the Rite of Admission to Candidacy for Holy Orders marked an official step for the seminarians to embark on a more focused period of formation.
During his homily, Bishop Jugis noted that the readings for this special Mass from Isaiah, St. Paul and the Gospel of Matthew are chosen especially for the occasion – all which describe answering God’s call to minister to His people.
In Isaiah, chapter six, God asks for someone to be His prophet, and Isaiah answers: “Here am I, Lord. Send me!”
“You can sense the enthusiasm and eagerness in the response of Isaiah: ‘Send me!’ He exclaims,” Bishop Jugis said to the young men before him.
The bishop continued, “When I entered the seminary in 1979, the Diocese of Charlotte was only seven years old. With limited resources, we seminarians and priests learned through those early years that what was needed from everybody was a spirit of availability and adaptability to do the work. In other words, the spirit of Isaiah.
“Now after 51 years as a diocese, that same spirit is needed as the diocese continues its phenomenal growth.”
“You young men who are now to become candidates for holy orders are already servants of the Lord. By your lives, you bear witness to Christ and His Kingdom. With the eagerness and enthusiasm of Isaiah, you come today to pursue your vocation to holy orders,” the bishop said. “You do this, as St. Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, for the sake of the Gospel. Out of your love for Christ, you desire to give your life in service to Him.”
“And so, in this Mass, we fulfill Jesus’ command, as we hear in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, to ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. We do this by bestowing on you the Church’s official blessing as candidates, and asking the Lord to continue to form you to become His sacred ministers” to “help lead people to Christ.”
Through formation up to this point, he told the six seminarians, “you have come to the point of making a public declaration of your desire to devote yourself to service to God and others. We welcome this desire with joy.”
Bishop Jugis encouraged them to continue to grow in faith, hope and charity through prayer and a deeper exploration of their possible vocation as priests.
“Trusting in the Lord, we will all assist you with our charity and with our prayers,” he said.
The next steps in the men’s formation will be ministry of lector, ministry of acolyte, ordination to the transitional diaconate, and finally, ordination to the priesthood.
The Charlotte diocese now has 51 men in its growing seminarian program, with more applicants expected before the school year begins this fall.
In his remarks, Bishop Jugis said, “We thank the good Lord for the many ways that He is blessing us.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle. Photos by Troy Hull.
