Bishop Dennis Sullivan will ordain Rev. Mr. Edward Kennedy to the priesthood on Saturday, May 21, in a 10:30 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Camden.
Rev. Mr. Kennedy, 33, is a graduate of Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, and Saint Mary Seminary and University in Baltimore. He is a member of the Parish of Saint Monica in Atlantic City. He has served the last year of his seminarian training as a transitional deacon of the Diocese of Camden, the last step before priesthood.
Two of his cousins are diocesan priests: Msgr. William Hodge, pastor of Saint Mary in Gloucester City, and Father Raymond Gormley, pastor of Church of the Incarnation in Mantua.
In a “Journeys of Faith” blog post on www.camdenpriest.org, Rev. Mr. Kennedy wrote that his cousins were “an example for me of what the priesthood is all about. I saw the joy that their vocations brought to their lives. I saw the way they brought to joy to people’s lives when they celebrated weddings, and the comfort they brought to people when they celebrated funerals.
“The vocation to the priesthood is a call to something radically different. It’s a call that provides an opportunity to be a part of something greater than yourself, and to help the communities in which we serve, to experience that Goodness that we preach and celebrate. The diocesan priesthood is a call to put one’s own needs aside in order to faithfully serve the people of God.”
On Sunday, May 22, the day after his ordination, he will celebrate his first Mass at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Church, Parish of Saint Monica in Atlantic City at 2.30 p.m.