Dialog Editor
Three men declared their intentions before Bishop Malooly Jan. 8 to become priests for the Diocese of Wilmington in a brief candidacy rite during the 11 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of St. Peter.
“The church receives your declaration with joy,” Bishop Malooly told the seminarians, who are scheduled to be ordained to the transitional deaconate in September, during the brief ceremony.
The three seminarians are:
Christopher R. Coffiey, 24, a theology III student at St. Mary Seminary and University in Baltimore, from St. Stanislaus and now St. Hedwig Parish; Glenn M. Evers, 28, theology III student at Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange, N.J., from St. Elizabeth Parish in Wilmington; and Brian S. Lewis, 41, a theology III student at St. Mary’s in Baltimore, from Holy Rosary Parish.
Bishop Malooly, during the Mass on the feast of the Epiphany, said the three future priests were joining in the role of the Magi to take the Good News of Christ into the world, a task all Christians are called to do.
“Each of you will take part in the teaching responsibility I have,” and priests have to bring God’s light, joy and faith to others.
While all of us are called to holiness and to manifest God’s spirit in the world, “You will be called in a special way,” Bishop Malooly said.
At the end of the Mass, Father Joseph Cocucci, rector of the cathedral and director of priestly and religious vocations in the diocese, noted Jan. 8 marked the beginning of National Vocations Awareness Week.
He asked unmarried Catholics to ask the question, “Dear Lord, might you be calling me to religious life or a vocation?”
