...And they said it would never last!

Blogging has been light, or non-existent most of this month due to the craziness of the year's end at St. Pius.  As I sit proctoring an exam for another teacher, I was reflecting on Mass this morning, which was a rather emotional experience.  Five years ago today I was ordained to the priesthood.  The wording of the Mass prayers (Mass for a priest on the anniversary of his ordination) are especially beautiful and haunting in their subliminal and NOT so subliminal exhortations to the priest.  As the halls of school empty at 10:35am for the last time this year, I know I will find myself reflecting on the past five year.  They have truly been a time of extraordinary blessing from God, usually manifested through the interaction with many wonderful people.
I wanted to take the opportunity to thank all those who have supported my priestly ministry, especially the good people of St. Pius X High School.  To close, I want to share some photos from my ordination Mass...Yes, we were all so young then!

Promise of Obedience

Laying on of Hands

Being vested by my dear friend Msgr. Morris

Handing on of the Chalice and Paten

Ordination Class of 2008

U.S. Ordination Class of 2013 by the numbers....emphasis mine

Typical new priest: 32-year-old cradle Catholic who prays Rosary, takes part in Eucharistic adoration

The typical member of the priestly ordination class of 2013 is a 32-year-old cradle Catholic who has three or more siblings and prayed the Rosary regularly before entering seminary, according to a survey of 366 of the 497 men slated to be ordained to the priesthood in the United States this year. The survey was conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

31% of the ordinands are foreign born, with the most typical foreign countries of birth being Mexico (5%), Vietnam (3%), Colombia (3%), Poland (2%), the Philippines (2%), and Nigeria (2%). On average, these foreign-born seminarians have lived in the United States for 14 years and arrived in the US at age 24.

A disproportionately high percentage of ordinands attended a Catholic elementary school (42%), Catholic high school (42%), or Catholic college (44%). In addition, a disproportionately high percentage were home schooled: 4% were home schooled, typically for seven years, at a time when less than 2% of US children were educated at home. If one assumes that all the homeschooled seminarians came from the United States, then 6% of US-born ordinands were home schooled.

Among the survey’s findings:

•     the median age of ordinands is 32; the mean age, 35.5
      the typical diocesan ordinand lived in his diocese for 18 years before entering seminary, though 15% had lived in their diocese for less than a year before entering seminary

•     67% of ordinands are white, 15% are Latino, 10% are Asian, and 5% are black
•     9% are converts, with the average age of reception into the Church being 24
•     34% have a relative who was a priest or religious
•     in 81% of cases, both parents were Catholic
•     4% have served in the US Armed Forces; 13% had a parent who spent his career in the military
•     68% regularly prayed the Rosary, and 62% regularly participated in Eucharistic adoration, before entering the seminary
•     ordinands typically first began to consider the priesthood at 16
•     67% were encouraged by their parish priest to consider a vocation; 46% were encouraged by a friend, 38% by a parishioner, 34% by their mother, and 22% by their father
•     19% were discouraged by a priest from considering a vocation; 30% were discouraged by their fathers, 28% by their mothers, 43% by other family members
•     20% have five or more siblings, 10% have four siblings, 22% have three siblings, 24% have two siblings, 21% have one sibling, and 3% have no siblings
•     40% are the oldest children in their families
•     63% had earned their undergraduate degree before entering seminary, and 23% had earned a graduate degree
•     62% worked full time before entering seminary
•     47% took part in a parish youth group, and 35% took part in Boy Scouts
•     20% took part in a World Youth Day, and 11% took part in a Franciscan University of Steubenville summer conference
•     67% had served as altar servers, 55% as readers, and 46% as extraordinary ministers of the Holy Communion before entering seminary

Truth

Pope-emeritus Benedict Returns to the Vatican

The day two popes met in the Vatican

Benedict XVI has arrived in the Vatican

VATICAN INSIDER STAFFVATICAN CITY

After a brief 15-minute helicopter ride, Benedict XVI landed at the Vatican City heliport at 16:50. The short journey from the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo took place as scheduled. A crowd of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square to watch the helicopter fly in.

The Pope Emeritus was greeted by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano and the President fo the Governorate, Giuseppe Bertello. The Substitute Secretary of State, Mgr. Angelo Becciu the Vatican “foreign affairs minister”, Mgr. Dominique Mamberti and the Secretary General of the Governorate, Mgr. Giuseppe Sciacca, were also present.

Once off the helicopter, Benedict XVI was driven to his new home at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, where Pope Francis was waiting, to give him his usual warm welcome.

True Dat.

Benedict XVI coming home to the Vatican

Benedict XVI to return to the Vatican on May 2nd

28 FEBRUARY, BENEDICT XVI 'S HISTORIC FAREWELL AND HIS DEPARTURE BY HELICOPTER

The Pope Emeritus will be leaving Castel Gandolfo in a couple days and returning to the Vatican

ANDREA TORNIELLIVATICAN CITY

Benedict XVI returns to the Vatican. He left the Holy See on 28 February, the last day of his pontificate, which ended officially on the evening of that same day, following his resignation. The Pope Emeritus will return to the Vatican on 2 May. The former cloistered monastery where the former Pope will be living, is now ready for him to move in. The monastery is a four story building, with communal areas and twelve monastic cells, a new wing measuring approximately 450 metres squared, a chapel, the cloistered nuns’ choir, a library, a gallery, an evergreen hedge, a heavy gate that separates the cloistered area from the other parts of the monastery and a large garden where peppers, tomatoes, courgettes, cabbages, lemons and oranges are grown.

 
Benedict XVI will be living with the four members of the “Memores Domini” association and his personal secretary, Georg Gänswein, Prefect of the Papal Household. Others who are allowed to stay in the monastery are the Pope Emeritus’ brother and the German deacon who joined the small former “papal family” and assists Ratzinger when Fr. Georg is busy in the Apostolic Palace. The move will make Mgr. Gänswein’s life much easier as, up until now, he has had to go back and forth from Castel Gandolfo to the Vatican every day. It will also make it easier for Francis to visit his predecessor.
 

Ratzinger’s frailty was apparent during Pope Francis’ visit to the Pope Emeritus just a few days after his election. But Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi, who has confirmed the former Pope’s imminent return to the Vatican, had denied that Benedict XVI was suffering from any major illness.

Where are they now?