13 minute read
PRIEST ORDINATIONS
7 MEN TO BE ORDAINED ON MAY 21
Chibueze Asiegbulem Uriel Santos Garcia
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I was born and raised in Nigeria, the fifth son in a family of four boys and one girl. I migrated to the U.S. on May 8, 2016. I was a student of University of Dayton before I started discerning a priestly vocation with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. I am the only one among my siblings outside the shores of my country. My home parish is Immaculate Conception in Dayton.
My call to the sacred ministry began when I was an altar server. As a result of my early vocational call, my parents supported me, and at age 12 was offered admission at Maria Mater Ecclesiea Seminary, which is similar to high school.
Rectors in Nigeria have been my mentors along my journey to the sacred priesthood. Father Anselm Anukam of blessed memory was a good mentor to me.
I look forward to celebrating the Eucharist with the people of God and making myself readily available as God’s instrument for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. My favorite devotion is to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. I like to watch and play soccer. I was born in Mexico into a Catholic family and have one brother and sister. My first catechist was my dear grandmother, a significant influence on my spiritual life. She encouraged me to embrace the Catholic faith and serve as an acolyte in my childhood, which is when I began hearing a call to the priesthood. I keep my home parish of Santiago Apostol very close to my heart. My mother lives in Middletown, and through her I felt a second calling: to serve the Latino population in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as a sacred minister.
I was blessed to have an exceptional mentor named Mariano Cortes who led the acolyte ministry at Santiago Apostol and taught me proper liturgy and prayers. Even today he remains an influence in my life. He is steadfast in praying before the Blessed Sacrament and offers a holy hour once a week just for my vocation.
I look forward to administering the sacraments of healing, particularly of reconciliation and anointing of the sick. I feel a special calling to the infirm because I have endured my own illness. In this way, I also see my sickness as a blessing and gift from God, as an example of how God brings good out of suffering.
Among my favorite devotions are the Divine Mercy Chaplet and Way of the Cross. When I pray these prayers, I meditate on Jesus’ suffering and I ask for mercy. Everyone needs mercy; we can feel God’s love through these beautiful meditations.
I enjoy cooking—especially carne asada. I like to gather with my family here in Cincinnati and go home to Mexico to visit my father and sister.
I am very happy that the archdiocese allowed me the opportunity to study Theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and learn English along the way. I thank God for sustaining me through times of struggle, a new language and culture and coping with an autoimmune disease. I look forward to sharing my experiences with parishioners, especially the message of God’s mercy and unending love.
I grew up the oldest of four right outside of Louisville, KY, and was homeschooled until high school, then graduated from the local public school. I was involved with my parish and really enjoyed being an altar server. I was able to witness my sister’s marriage as a deacon! My brother and I love playing video games together.
My grandmother prayed for me to be a priest. I, however, did not seriously discern the priesthood until my mid-20s. My pastor asked if I thought about the priesthood and I decided I had to give seminary a chance. I thank God that I was finally open to following His will for me! My spiritual director, Father Sunberg, is a wonderful example of how to be Christ to others.
I look forward to a life of service for the people of God. I want to meet them where they are and help them fall more in love with Jesus Christ. St. Thérèse had an important role in my discernment to the priesthood, and I am filled with awe by her simplicity and love for the Lord. I also enjoy a litany to the saints.
I love watching Star Wars and have since I was kid. I also love astronomy – seeing the stars and planets humbles me, and not seeing everything that is out in space that God created reminds me of how much He loves us!
I ask the faithful to pray for their priests, religious and seminarians and to encourage young people to pray about the vocation God is calling them to. If a young man thinks he may have a vocation to the priesthood, to talk with his priest about it. Regardless of your vocation in this life, as Pope St. John Paul II would say, “life with Christ is a wonderful adventure.” I am 27 years old from a typical Catholic family—my parents celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary the day after my First Mass. I have two brothers and one sister, and many cousins. Raised on a family farm outside the small town of Russia, OH, the heart and cultural life of the community is St. Remy’s parish – it is the town’s identity. Growing up on a farm is one of the most appreciated aspects of my life. And I still enjoy slipping home just to feel the dirt in my hands and find something to keep me busy, particularly when there is work with Dad or one of my brothers or cousins.
My family life fostered a “natural” vocation in me, we are ardent members of St. Remy Church. I served the Holy Mass and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament almost every week on Thursday evenings from seventh grade until I left for college seminary. Another big part of my discernment was my childhood pastor who presented discernment and priesthood by the way he lived his life in our simple interactions. During college seminary, my vocation became alive because there was a peace in the depths of my soul. My vocation did not involve any “love at first sight” or “firework” moments. Instead my vocation was a gradual progression. As I grew, my vocation grew on me.
Father Frank Amberger, my pastor for “my impressionable and informative years” was assigned to St. Remy’s from my third grade year until after I entered seminary. Pope St. Pius X has been my best friend (and confirmation patron) for many years, and my grandparents, each in their own way, have been mentors to me.
I most look forward to offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, but a close second is listening to confessions and praying for the flock entrusted to my care. The Most Blessed Sacrament and the Sacrament of Confession are the two things which have been my biggest help, my greatest peace, and my most ardent loves. My favorite prayer is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, but I also enjoy the psalms in the Divine Office (the Liturgy of the Hours).
I like farming, hiking, and anything out in the woods and working outdoors. I also like reading, watching movies, hanging out with friends and family and playing cards.
Pray for me! I cannot ask you enough – indeed beg – for you to pray for me. I will never be able to repay those who pray for me, although our Heavenly Father can and surely will. Let us pray for each other!
Robert Hale
Stephen Jones
I grew up in Kokomo, IN, along with most of my family. I played baseball, participated in Boy Scouts, served at Mass with my best friends, played the trumpet in band and attended then led our youth group. I graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville with a degree in Philosophy and Theology, with new friends from Cincinnati, and with a growing discernment to join a diocese I did not grow up in. My family began to move to the Cincinnati area, and I knew that I was being called to join the archdiocese.
I thought the priest had one of the best “jobs” I could imagine, but I never thought I could be called to the priesthood; it was only for the holiest of holy people, and I was a regular kid. During my high school junior year, God shattered that misconception during a Eucharistic procession at a retreat, and I began to seriously discern if God might be calling me.
I had many priests help me realize a vocation to the priesthood was one of joy, love for the people and love for God and what it is to be a priest, including Fathers Martin Fox, Barry Stechschulte, Alexander Witt and Thomas McCarthy. I had the examples of many holy people who gifted me with their time and insights.
I look forward to finally getting to serve the parishes of the archdiocese as a priest! I will finally be able to offer the people of God the grace of the sacraments which I have loved and depended on my whole life. I have always had a devotion to Mary through the Rosary and St. Louis De Montfort’s beautiful Consecration to Jesus Through Mary. Later in life I added the Divine Mercy Chaplet as I experienced its power in the midst of loss and pain to restrengthen my trust in the Lord and His mercy. I continually turn towards St. Joseph of Cupertino, Padre Pio, and to St. John Vianney and St. Philip Neri in their examples of priestly devotion to Jesus and his Church.
I enjoy listening to audio media, be it good books about scifi or other fiction, podcasts on historical events, talks from Catholic media, Catholic books and spiritual works. I also like dabbling with technology, constantly building, tearing apart, upgrading and repurposing electronics.
As an “adopted” seminarian studying for a diocese I did not grow up in, I want to say thank you for all these years of welcome. You have made this a new home and made the decision to be ordained here an easy and a joyful one. I cannot wait to serve you as one of your priests, and I look forward to all the gifts God will give to me through you. I am the son of Doug and Denise; the younger brother of Jason and Emma; and the older brother of Anna, Meredith, Elise, and Michael. My dad is a retired detective for the City of Cincinnati, and former owner of Bridgetown Hardware and Paint where I worked in high school. My mom was a police dispatcher before raising us crazy kids, and she now works as a teacher’s aid. We are a Westside family through and through. I was baptized at St. Bernard, Taylor Creek, and I went to grade school at Our Lady of the Visitation. I went to Elder High School and graduated in 2013.
My family was always very faithful, but I lost my way in high school. I believed in the Lord and His Church, but my faith was not a living reality. A retreat was one of the best things to ever happen to me. I heard the Gospel and its demands for the first time in their clarity: Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, must be the center of our lives. In adoration between high school and college I first encountered the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist—not simply as a doctrine but as a living Person. Without ever having thought about a vocation before, I prayed, “Lord, I see the beauty of the priesthood: I want to be a priest if it is Your will.”
God has given me amazing priests and mentors. My parents and siblings taught me how to love. I think of two young priests, Father Anthony Brausch and Father Kyle Schnippel, who were assigned to my parish as I was growing up. My spiritual directors were incredibly helpful and formative. My cousin Father Jeremy Miller gave crucial guidance and candid advice. And my professors at the University of Notre Dame where I first began really discerning the call to the priesthood I heard in 2013, and their rich education in the beauty of the Catholic faith fanned the flame of my faith and my vocation.
I most look forward to living totally for the Church. What a gift to offer Jesus to the Father in the sacrifice of the Mass and what a responsibility to imitate what I celebrate in a life of self-giving love. My favorite devotion is Eucharistic adoration. Nothing comes close to the inexhaustible silence of His love.
I love hunting for used books at St. Vincent de Paul, climbing trees and playing soccer and ping-pong.
Jesus is proposing something to you right now. Beg Him to see. Life with Him in the Church is the most beautiful adventure.
Michael Willig
I’m from St. Antoninus Parish on the Westside of Cincinnati. I am the sixth of eight children. I had an uncle, Father Jim Willig, who faithfully served as a priest of this archdiocese until his death in 2001. My brother is also a priest of the archdiocese, Father Jacob Willig.
Growing up, my family emphasized the importance of discerning one’s vocation and that provided an openness to God’s plan. When I was a boy, my uncle, Father Jim Willig, as well as Father Al Lauer, had a tremendous impact on my respect for the priesthood. I thought about the priesthood when I was a child, but not during high school or college. It wasn’t until a few years after graduating college that I began seriously discerning a call to the priesthood.
My brother, Father Jacob Willig, entered seminary five years before me and having him as a brother and mentor has been an incredible blessing. In addition, I had several other priests who mentored me over the years. I look forward to being completely available to serve Christ as one of his priests and to serve the people of God by providing the sacraments and spreading the Gospel. I hope I may be an instrument in the hand of God to accomplish His work.
Praying the rosary changed my life. Growing up, my family prayed the rosary together every evening and that had a major positive impact on my life. I like to pray the Memorare, ask for intercession from my patron saints, and my top three devotions are the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Joseph.
I enjoy hiking in the wilderness and particularly enjoy climbing mountains. Going to the mountains is like a retreat for me.
I am excited to serve as a priest of Jesus Christ. Know of my prayers for you. Please pray for our priests and for vocations to the priesthood.
HELPING THE ARCHDIOCESE OF CINCINNATI call the community to worship for 180 years
VERDIN’S 1ST INSTALLATION
Old St. Mary’s, Cincinnati, OH (1842)
THE VERDIN COMPANY
A FAMILY OF INNOVATORS SINCE 1842 Read the full ordinand interviews on our website! Visit thecatholictelegraph.com
Father Patrick Sloneker
Congratulations on Your 25th Priestly Anniversary!
May the good Lord continue blessing you in a special way for the love and concern with which you minister to all those entrusted to your care. May your life be filled with God’s good gifts, and abundant joy.
