Scenes from an ordination

What a day.

The Diocese of Brooklyn ordained 13 men to the priesthood today in a ceremony that stretched nearly three hours. The setting—the newly-consecrated Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph—was packed; the place seats about 1400 and there were a lot of standees in the back. It was a glorious liturgy, though. Below, some highlights. I attended with my classmate and the DRE from my parish, Deacon Bill McNamara, and my wife. The big draw was the ordination, at last, of Jeremy Canna, the seminarian who spent his pastoral year at our parish in Queens. Bill and I would be serving as his two deacons for his Mass of Thanksgiving, and my wife would be a lector. It would be a long day: the ordination at 11, with Fr. Jeremy’s Mass of Thanksgiving at 5:30.

The co-cathedral was packed.  At one point, I managed to upload to Facebook a video of the laying-on of hands:

After the men were vested, there was a moment of unexpected silence; when people realized what had happened, that there were 13 new priests standing before them, the congregation burst into thunderous applause, which finally culminated in a prolonged standing ovation.

After the ordination, the requisite First Blessing, for me and my wife and Bill.

With some time to kill before the Mass of Thanksgiving, the three of us decided to head to the nearby Junior’s for lunch and, of course, their legendary cheesecake.

Then it was on to St. Thomas Aquinas in Flatlands, Brooklyn, for the Mass of Thanksgiving.

The pastor made some wonderful remarks at the end of the liturgy, noting that “Jeremy represents the best of us,” which moved the congregation to do something I’d never seen at a regular Sunday Mass: they gave him a standing ovation.

At the end of the Mass, Jeremy got another warm greeting outside from the gathered clergy.

As I told one of the seminarians serving as MC: “Remember this after you’re ordained. The most important person in the room at any given time is the deacon’s wife. Seriously. They’re all saints.”

The MC, Raphael, did a great job. He’ll be ordained a deacon in November.

Jeremy’s family posed for pictures before he began offering blessings in the prayer grotto outside.

Ad multos annos!

But it’s not over yet. Fr. Jeremy will be at my parish on Sunday for another Mass of Thanksgiving at 1 p.m.  After that, he reports for duty at his first assignment: Our Lady of Snows in Queens.