PALM BEACH GARDENS | At the annual chrism Mass April 15 at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola, Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito prepared and blessed the holy oils that will be used for sacramental purposes for the next 12 months throughout the five-county diocese.
The bishop addressed his homily to the priests currently serving in the diocese or living in retirement, who renewed their commitment to priestly ministry during the liturgy. As a boy, Bishop Barbarito wanted to be a railroad engineer, and he recalled the summers he spent at his grandparents’ home in rural western Pennsylvania, which required a long train ride from Brooklyn, New York.
“My fervent hope to become a railroad engineer suddenly changed one day when I was at Mass. Even before my first Communion, I was closely watching the priest celebrate. I decided, even though I still loved trains, that I now wanted to be a priest. I liked what I saw, and I wanted to be a priest saying Mass. In retrospect, I really never understood why I made this sudden change of decision.”
He mentioned the short-lived TV series (1962-63) “Going My Way,” which was a spin-off of the widely successful 1944 movie of the same name that starred Bing Crosby. The bishop’s father told him that parish life would be much different from the way it was portrayed on TV and movies.
But he learned that, in some ways, a priest is like a railroad engineer. “I think I sensed the priest as operating the train of life with people all going their way as the caboose. The priest wore a uniform, like a railroad engineer. And he was the one people relied upon if they wanted to get to their destination.”
As he grew, though, he saw more and more that the priest represented Jesus Christ.
At the end of the Mass, Bishop Barbarito announced the names of those priests who are celebrating milestone anniversaries of ordination and thanked them for being dedicated to their Catholic communities and building up God’s church.
To learn about upcoming events in the Diocese of Palm Beach, visit www.diocesepb.org/news/.
The priests honored at the chrism Mass were:
1 YEAR
Scalabrinian Father Patrick Bernard
Father Jean Serge Dubé
Father Joshua Martin
5 YEARS
Father Robinsón Aza Quetamá
Father Thomas Pulickal
Father Nicholas Zrallack
15 YEARS
Father Llane Briese
Father Albert Dello Russo
Father Kevin McQuone
Opus Dei Father Oscar Regojo
Father Junesh Xavier
20 YEARS
Father Cosmas Brendan
Father Yves François
Conventual Franciscan Father Paul Gabriel
25 YEARS
Father Gavin Badway
Conventual Franciscan Father Robert Benko
Father Juan Cárdenas
Father Timothy Cusick
Father Geto Jacques
Father Brian King
Father Kevin Nelson
Father Paul Nguyen
Conventual Franciscan Father Daniel Pal
30 YEARS
Father Mario Castañeda
Father Richard George
Father Thomas O’Flanagan
Archimandrite Glen Pothier
Father Giuseppe Savaia
35 YEARS
Father Joseph Cretella
Father Zbigniew Rudnicki
Father Gaudioso Zamora
Paulist Father Marcos Zamora
40 YEARS
Bishop Silvio Báez Ortega, Discalced Carmelites
Jesuit Father John Horn
45 YEARS
Father Moise Aime
Father John Barrow
Father David Carr
Father Edgar Mazariegos
Father Noel McGrath
Paulist Father Paul Ruttle
Father Victor Ulto
Father Stanley Wulinski
50 YEARS
Father David Acker
Msgr. David Benz
Father Stephen Duffy
Msgr. Michael McGraw
Father John Mericantante
Father Michael O’Flaherty
Father Adrian Torres
Father Joseph Torretto
60 YEARS
Father James Bowman
Carmelite Father Richard Champigny
Father Frank O’Loughlin
65 YEARS
Father James Leone
Father Luke Wei
