More on the seminarian ordained near death: “He will be serving the people of God in heaven”

For those who read this story yesterday and saw the poignant video, more details today from The Tennessee Register: 

As William Carmona lay gravely ill in a San Antonio hospital bed, he repeatedly questioned his classmates from nearby Assumption Seminary: “Where is Bishop Choby?” “When will he get here?” And finally: “How many more hours until he ordains me?”

Carmona, a fourth year Theology seminarian entering his final year of preparation for ordination as a transitional deacon this fall and as a priest of the Diocese of Nashville next summer, was dying from cancer.

When Bishop David Choby of Nashville learned of his grave condition after Carmona was rushed to the Christus Santa Rosa Medical Center late last week, he made plans to travel to San Antonio to ordain the seminarian immediately in light of the emergency circumstances.

“The joy and satisfaction in administering the Sacrament of Holy Orders is a high point in the life of any bishop, but to have the opportunity to celebrate the sacrament for one who is so much looking forward to ordination but faces the certainty of death made it the more poignant,” Bishop Choby said.

“The priesthood, by its very nature, is multifaceted because it is God’s gift to respond to the needs of the human person,” Bishop Choby said. “I am fond of saying to the seminarians of the Diocese of Nashville that apart from family life, I know of no other vocation which touches so many moments in a person’s life. In a way that is singularly focused, the priesthood has as its center, the mystery of redemption, which is the dying and the rising of the Lord.”

“The ordination of Father Carmona, which occurred in the face of the certainty of death, reflects the Pascal Mystery,” Bishop Choby said. “That is how our own lives are transformed in the death and resurrection of Jesus.”

Bishop Choby traveled to San Antonio on the evening of Sunday, June 7, to prepare for the ordinations on Monday, Sept. 8. Joining him, were: Deacon Jim McKenzie, a retired nurse anesthetist; Father John Sims Baker, pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Nashville and chaplain of University Catholic; Father John Hammond, associate pastor of Christ the King Church who was ordained a priest in July; Deacon Rafael Bougrat of St. Philip Church in Franklin; and Father Gervan Menezes, who was ordained a priest in July and attended Assumption Seminary with Father Carmona.

Father Carmona is the senior member of the group of eight seminarians from the Diocese of Nashville in formation at Assumption Seminary. The Nashville seminarians began an around the clock vigil to keep him company while he was being cared for in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Read more and see more pictures here. 

Fr. Carmona, at last report, was still hovering near death. Please pray for him and all those who love him.