AVALON – Priests of the Diocese came together in prayer the third week of October for the annual Priest Convocation – a time set aside for the men to renew, reflect and build fraternity.
On the second day of the convocation, Oct. 21, Bishop Joseph Williams presided over a Mass that also honored priests celebrating milestone anniversaries this year. Father Nicholas Dudo, diocesan vicar for clergy, congratulated the jubilarians in attendance.
“We thank God for these 14 jubilarians in this Jubilee Year,” Bishop Williams said at the Mass celebrated in Saint Paul Church, Saint Brendan the Navigator Parish.
Father Kenneth Hallahan, himself celebrating 50 years of priesthood, preached the homily, reflecting on the call to “be ready, be awake, be prepared.”
“Jesus is constantly telling us, ‘Pay attention to life,’” Father Hallahan said. “Because God is present. Grace is present everywhere.”
With his five decades of priestly experience, Father Hallahan shared three ways he has encountered Jesus in ministry: through the Eucharist, the other sacraments and working for justice.
Speaking on the sacramental life of the Church, Father Hallahan quoted from the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially of those who are poor, or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the followers of Christ.”
He reminded his brother priests that “charity is not enough,” quoting Pope Saint John Paul II’s 1979 call for “changing of attitude and structures” in the work for justice.
Father Hallahan concluded his homily: “In my 50 years as a priest, the Catholic Church has offered me the opportunity to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist, in the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties, so often remembered in the sacraments, and in the work to create a more just world.”
Celebrating milestone years of priestly service: 25 years, Father Shaji A. Muttathottil, VC; 40 years, Father Jose Ainikkal, CMI; Father Timothy E. Byerley; Father Perry A. Cherubini; Father Cadmus D. Mazzarella; Father Joseph D. Wallace; 50 years, Father John A. Cavagnaro; Father Robert J. Fritz; Father Kenneth P. Hallahan; Father Joseph A. Perreault; Father John J. Vignone; and 60 years, Msgr. Thomas J. Morgan; Father Josef A. Wagenhoffer; and Father Robert P. Weber.
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