Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Gerard O’ConnellJune 27, 2020
Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., presides over the ordination of 18 Jesuit deacons and two Jesuit priests at the Church of the Gesú in Rome on Saturday, June 27, 2020 (Photo by Pierre Bélanger, S.J., and James Kulvi, S.J.)

Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J. ordained 20 Jesuits—two as priests and 18 as deacons—from 15 countries at the Church of the Gesú in Rome this afternoon, June 27. The ordinations took place as Italy came out of lockdown after being one of the worst-hit countries in Europe by the Covid-19 pandemic, with almost 35,000 deaths over the past five months.

It was the Jesuit cardinal’s first ordination since Pope Francis ordained him bishop in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 4, 2019, prior to giving him the red hat the following day. Cardinal Czerny carried a wooden crozier and wore a simple pectoral cross made from the wood of a shipwrecked migrant boat as he presided at the ceremony.

Vatican II taught that all the baptized are called “to share in the mission and ministry of the church,” said Cardinal Czerny, adding that “ordained ministry does not exhaust or monopolize this ministry,"

Around 150 people attended, mostly Jesuits but also some religious women, in addition to Arturo Sosa, S.J., the superior general of the Society of Jesus. Everyone wore masks except for the cardinal, the choir and the lectors when they were reading, in accordance with the norms laid down by the Italian Bishops’ Conference. No relatives of the ordained were present at the ceremony because of travel restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic that has hit 188 countries, infected almost ten million people worldwide and caused the deaths of another half million, but family and friends were able to follow on a video live stream.

Cardinal Czerny began his homily by extending a warm welcome to “the family, friends and relations who are participating by television or tablet or smartphone.” Referring to the day’s Gospel, which told how on the first Easter evening “the apostles had locked themselves into the upper room,” he said, “we too now know what lockdown means,” and remarked that “even nowadays, our church sometimes feels fearful and closed in on itself.”

He added that like the apostles, those being ordained will receive the Spirit “to heal and to comfort, to liberate and to reconcile, to raise up and make glad,” and “to be a herald of the Gospel, a minister of reconciliation and of liberation, in the world of today and tomorrow, where everything seems to be constantly and rapidly new.”

Addressing the 20 being ordained, he reminded them that throughout its long history, the church has had to cope “with new conditions and new challenges.” He added that while “discernment is part of the Jesuit style and training instituted by Saint Ignatius of Loyola,” those being ordained “can help others in the church to practice discernment, for it is not exclusively Jesuit property, nor is it a prerogative of the ordained.”

“There is no map,” Cardinal Czerny said, but “as ministers of the church it is necessary to have the courage of witness, to choose the uphill path of the ‘new’ and not to take the downhill path of the ‘safe’.”

He reminded them too that Vatican II taught that all the baptized are called “to share in the mission and ministry of the church,” adding that “ordained ministry does not exhaust or monopolize this ministry, for it is the church as a whole that is ‘ministerial’ and all its members share in that responsibility.” He told them “today’s ministers are ordained to foster the active insertion of God’s people in the life and responsibilities of the church.”

The Jesuit cardinal recalled that the Second Vatican Council “embraces the world as the privileged place of announcing the Good News” and called on the new deacons and priests “to leave the comfort zones called ‘sacristies’ where, like the disciples in today’s Gospel, they had been shut in for fear of what was happening ‘outside’.” He said those to be ordained are called to embrace “the world, with its problems and struggles, with its contradictions and its values, with its opportunities and obstacles.”

He reminded them that in their ministry they “will be participating in the synodal practice that is gradually growing in the church. He encouraged them to “try to walk together with ever greater enthusiasm” and “without thinking that you already have the best answer or all the answers, try to draw on many people and listen to many voices.” He told them, “you will find that it requires both humility and courage, to recognize that one cannot do everything on one's own.”

“There is no map,” Cardinal Czerny said, but “as ministers of the church it is necessary to have the courage of witness, to choose the uphill path of the ‘new’ and not to take the downhill path of the ‘safe’.”

The 20 new deacons and priests reflect the universal nature of the church and of the Society of Jesus: They come from 15 countries and are all studying in Rome. The two newly ordained priests, Eric Kambale, S.J., and Vyacheslave Okun, S.J., come from the provinces of Central Africa and Poland respectively.

The 18 deacons are from Hungary, Slovakia, Bohemia (Czech Republic), Euro-Mediterranea (Italy), Austria and five Jesuit provinces in India—Goa, Delhi, Karnataka, Calcutta and Kerala, as well as Sri Lanka, Rwanda-Burundi, Afrique Centrale (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Madagascar and China.

Cardinal Czerny presided at the ceremony in Italian but delivered his homily in English. He alone laid hands on the 18 deacons, but the other concelebrants, including Father Sosa, followed him in the traditional practice of laying hands on the two new priests, while the choir sang a hymn to the Holy Spirit in Italian.

We don’t have comments turned on everywhere anymore. We have recently relaunched the commenting experience at America and are aiming for a more focused commenting experience with better moderation by opening comments on a select number of articles each day.

But we still want your feedback. You can join the conversation about this article with us in social media on Twitter or Facebook, or in one of our Facebook discussion groups for various topics.

Or send us feedback on this article with one of the options below:

We welcome and read all letters to the editor but, due to the volume received, cannot guarantee a response.

In order to be considered for publication, letters should be brief (around 200 words or less) and include the author’s name and geographic location. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

We open comments only on select articles so that we can provide a focused and well-moderated discussion on interesting topics. If you think this article provides the opportunity for such a discussion, please let us know what you'd like to talk about, or what interesting question you think readers might want to respond to.

If we decide to open comments on this article, we will email you to let you know.

If you have a message for the author, we will do our best to pass it along. Note that if the article is from a wire service such as Catholic News Service, Religion News Service, or the Associated Press, we will not have direct contact information for the author. We cannot guarantee a response from any author.

We welcome any information that will help us improve the factual accuracy of this piece. Thank you.

Please consult our Contact Us page for other options to reach us.

City and state/province, or if outside Canada or the U.S., city and country. 
When you click submit, this article page will reload. You should see a message at the top of the reloaded page confirming that your feedback has been received.

The latest from america

The 12 women whose feet were washed by Pope Francis included women from Italy, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
The Society of JesusMarch 28, 2024
A child wounded in an I.D.F. bombardment is brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on March 25. (AP Photo/Ismael abu dayyah)
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Kevin ClarkeMarch 28, 2024
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
Stephanie SaldañaMarch 28, 2024