Belleville deacon, 3 others taking final steps to priesthood

Four deacons, including three currently serving in Essex County churches, were set to take the final step into the priesthood on May 27 at Newark’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

“This year’s ordinandi are a great bunch of guys, and they represent a great diversity of backgrounds and experiences that will help them in their ministry,” said the Rev. Eugenio de la Rama, director of vocations for the Archdiocese of Newark. “The priesthood is not a job — it’s a participation in Christ’s healing, mercy, and love for his people. And I’m confident that these men will grow in that mission every day through prayer and their good works.”

The three with Essex County ties are:

JuHyun Andrew Lee, who is currently serving as a transitional deacon at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in South Orange;

Frenel Phanord, who is currently serving as a transitional deacon at St. Peter’s Church in Belleville; and

Bernardo Garcia, a parishioner at St. Peter’s in Belleville who is currently serving as a transitional deacon at St. Aloysius Church and St. Benedict Church in Newark.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, will ordain the three plus a fourth man, Deacon Robert Burkot, during the Rite of Ordination on Saturday, May 27, at 10 a.m.

All are invited to attend both ordinations which will give Archdiocese of

Newark parishioners the chance to pray for the newly ordained before they are assigned to parishes in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, or Union counties.

Attendees of the priestly ordination will also have the opportunity to receive the first blessings from the new priests, who will be stationed throughout the Cathedral Basilica following the ceremony to greet their well-wishers.

This year’s group of soon-to-be-priests come to the Archdiocese from all over the world, according to a press release from the diocese, which identified them as:

Deacon Robert Burkot, 59, has worked as a catechist, helped his widowed sister raise her children, and acted as a caretaker and legal advocate for his sister after she was stricken with cancer. Burkot was not inspired to become a priest until having a dream in which Mary pushed him into Jesus’ embrace.

Garcia, 29, intended to graduate from college with a business degree, take over his father’s recycling company, and get married. But after seeing the joy among the priests while attending a Chrism Mass at the Cathedral Basilica, he realized giving himself to God might fill the emptiness he felt in his life. Now, after spending nine years in the seminary, he knows becoming a priest was always God’s plan for him.

Lee, 27, experienced poverty and developed a desire to help others who are struggling like he did. Immediately after graduating high school, the South Korean native entered the seminary to pursue his dream of becoming a priest.

Phanord, 31, grew up in the Turks and Caicos Islands with a lot of tough questions about the purpose of his life. He believed he might find answers in the seminary and joined thinking he might last a year or two. He never left.