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Ten new Catholic priests to be ordained for Brooklyn this Saturday

Ordinations Reflect Upward Trend; U.S. Catholic Parishes Report 25 Percent Increase in Priests

June 23, 2015 By Francesca Norsen Tate, Religion Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
The priests of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn lay hands on the heads of the 13 new priests to ordain them. Photo courtesy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn
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The Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Brooklyn, will ordain 10 men to the priesthood for the Diocese of Brooklyn, this Saturday at 11 a.m. The ordination liturgy will take place at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, 856 Pacific St., in Prospect Heights

Ordained as transitional deacons last year, the 10 men successfully completed their seminarian formation. They are Chris Bethge, Nicholas Colalella, John Gribowich, Christopher Heanue, Jose Henriquez, Daniel Kingsley, Lukasz Lech, Mark Matthias, Rafael Perez and Alexander Piñacue.

Some of the men were foreign-born and came to this diocese of many immigrants and languages. Among the native lands represented in this year’s ordination class are Colombia, Poland and the Dominican Republic. One of the ordinands is a Brooklyn native and others grew up in the borough or will be serving local parishes.

The number of Catholic men set to become priests in 2015 reflects an increase of 25 percent from 2014, with 100 more ordinands than last year, for a total of 595 new priests, according to a report from the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, the eighth largest diocese in the U.S. and the only entirely urban diocese in the nation, serves Brooklyn and Queens. The combined population of the boroughs stands at 4.8 million residents, representing many ethnic backgrounds, of which more than 1.5 million identify as Catholics.

“These devoted men are truly a blessing to our Diocese. Their deep faith and different backgrounds will help grow and enrich our multi-cultural church in Brooklyn and Queens,” DiMarzio said. “It is my privilege to welcome these young men to the Presbyterate of Brooklyn.”

Immediately after being ordained, the new priests will receive their parish assignments to serve the faithful of the Diocese of Brooklyn, also known as the Diocese of Immigrants.

The diocesan network New Evangelization Television (NET TV) will provide live coverage of the Priest Ordination, which will also be live streamed on www.netny.tv. NET TV is a cable network featuring news and information with a Catholic point of view, and is available in the New York area on Time Warner Cable (channel 97), Cablevision (channel 30), and nationally on Verizon FiOS On Demand.

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